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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 





STORY Si~3&. 

OF 

RUTH THE MO ABIT ESS. ^ 




BY THE AUTHOR OF THE 

n Mission," " Second Foreign Missiony" and 
"Happy Family." 





l.VRIj/FEN FOR THE MASSACHUSETTS SABBATH SCHOOL SOCIETY, 
AND REVISED BY THE/COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION. 




BOSTON: 

MASSACHUSETTS SABBATH SCHOOL SOCIETY. 

Depository, No. 25 Cornhill. 



1835. 



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w t- ^..Entered Jaicording to act ^«£ Hongrfps, in the year 1^5, 
^ 3 ' BY CJ&ISTcVbPR C. DE^N, 

in tlte Clerk's Offlbe of the Bfetrict Court of Massachusetts 

•v * S a _ ! — : ! *_ 



CONTENTS 



Introduction, 7 

Chap. I. The Moabites — who they were, 
and where they lived; with some Facts 
in their History, 19 

Chap. II. Early History of Ruth. Her 
Connections, Marriage, &c 24 

Chap. III. Naomi and Ruth go to Beth- 
lehem, SO 

Chap. IV. Their reception at Bethlehem, 43 

Chap. V. Their Employment at Bethle- 
hem, 47 

Chap. VI. Ruth gleaning. She meets 

with Boaz, 52 

Chap. VII. Ruth finishes her Day's 
Work, and returns to her Mother, . . 61 

Chap. VIII. Conversation between Nao- 
mi and Ruth, 65 

Chap. IX. Ruth's Conduct. One Day at 
Bethlehem. General Remarks, ... 69 

Chap. X. How Ruth spent the Sabbath, 79 

Chap. XL A Dialogue, 91 

Chap; XII. Naomi's Advice, 106 



VI CONTENTS. 

Chap. XIII. Ruth's Visit to Boaz, . . .Ill 
Chap. XIV. Ruth's Return to her Moth- 
er, ......... .. 122 

Chap. XV. How Boaz Proceeded, ... 131 
Chap. XVI. Boaz and Ruth Married, . 137 
Chap. XVII. The Conclusion, . . , . 14& 



INTRODUCTION, 



" All Scripture is given by inspira- 
tion, and is profitable for doctrine, for 
reproof, for correction, for instruction 
in righteousness: that the man of God 
maybe perfect," or that the child of 
God may become a perfect man, " thor- 
oughly furnished " and prepared " unto 
all good works." 

The Scriptures — the revealed word 
of truth— are to the spiritual man, all 
that the great book of natural truth is to 
the natural man. Its pages present a 
perpetual feast; and if, in order to par- 
take of its heavenly viands, a little labor 
is required, it is no more than is true 

of the pages of nature's book. Toil, in 
1 * 



Vlll INTRODUCTION. 

both cases, is richly rewarded. They 
that labor faintly and " sow sparingly," 
in either case, "reap sparingly;" but 
they that "sow bountifully, reap also 
bountifully." 

He who peruses, with interest, the 
inspired pages, will find them "profita- 
ble for doctrine." There "shine the 
noblest truths." There, whatever is 
excellent in morals, or true in religion, 
is embodied in the plainest and simplest 
manner; so that way-faring men, though 
fools, need not materially err. It may 
not, indeed, always be arranged as we 
find it in our catechisms and formula- 
ries; but it is there; — and however we 
may regard the utility of the plan, the 
arrangement was made by Infinite Wis- 
dom itself. 

The inspired pages are profitable also 
for "reproof." The Bible presents 
nearly every essential variety of human 
character, from the best to the worst. 



INTRODUCTION. IX 

It shows us the virtuous struggling- with 
adversity, and coming off more than vic- 
torious; it shows us the same character, 
now virtuous, and basking in the sun- 
shine of prosperity, and now sinking in 
the most humiliating depths of guilt and 
wo. Here we see vice for a while lifting 
up her brazen face with an air of triumph ; 
anon we see her reaping the due reward 
of her deeds. We see the fate both of 
guilty individuals and nations ; we wit- 
ness the elevation and ultimate exalta- 
tion of the feeble but heavenly-minded 
slave, and of the small, but virtuous and 
pious nation. We see, and we approve. 
Especially do the details of vice, and 
its ultimate punishment, justify so clear- 
ly the wisdom of the ways of God to 
man, that while we read, we are ■" re- 
proved and corrected;" and it is our 
own fault, and not that of the Scriptures, 
if they are not profitable to' us " for in- 



X INTRODUCTION. 

struction in righteousness ; if our hearts 
are not made better. 

How is it possible for an ingenuous 
youth to read the biography with which 
the Bible abounds, and not see the ex- 
cellence of virtue and piety! How pos- 
sible to avoid the inference, that, were 
this life the measure of our existence 
even, the ways of wisdom are pleasant, 
and all her paths peace! How is it 
possible to behold the chicanery, the 
dissimulation, the intrigue, the mean- 
ness, the impurity, the guilt and the 
degradation of bad men, without feeling 
that there is a way which, though it 
seem pleasant to a man, the end there- 
of is death ! 

Who can read the travels and voya- 
ges of the various characters, set forth 
in the Bible — especially those of Christ 
and his apostles and early followers, — 
without being enlightened and strength- 
ened to pursue, with humble trust in 



INTRODUCTION. XI 

God, and with new vigor, the journey 
of life — that journey so often spoken of 
as a mere pilgrimage — whose end, if 
rightly pursued, opens, at last, into 
fields of immortal bliss? 

Who can look at the history of vari- 
ous tribes and nations, as there record- 
ed, and not see that " at what time God 
sees fit to pluck down and to destroy, 
or to build up " and elevate a nation 
according to its virtue or vice, no hu- 
man art or effort can prevent, frustrate, 
or defeat? That He doeth according 
to His will, not only in the armies or 
hosts of Heaven, but among the inhab- 
itants of the earth ; and that none can 
say to him, with impunity, " What doest 
thou?" 

How is it possible for a person who has 
the least sensibility or sympathy in his 
nature, to read the charming moral les- 
sons of this blessed book, and not re- 
ceive any permanent good impressions? 



Xll 



INTRODUCTION. 



Of what material must such an individ- 
ual be composed? 

In the value of these lessons, as a 
means of general improvement, there is 
no doubt a great difference to different 
individuals. One would be most bene- 
fited by biography ; another prefers 
history ; another is fond of poetry ; an- 
other is charmed with travels ; another 
prefers the parts which exhibit feeling 
— especially devotional feeling; — anoth- 
er still, prefers philosophy and doctrine. 
For all these various tastes of its nu- 
merous readers, the Bible is an almost 
inexhaustible store-house. It is sur- 
prising to those who have but recently 
begun to search for its treasures, how 
much material for thought and reflec- 
tion it contains; how much for intel- 
lectual, social, moral and physical ele- 
vation and improvement. 

Perhaps among all its stores of nar- 
rative and biography, there is no por- 



INTRODUCTION. X1I1 

tion, occupying the same amount of 
space, so replete with instruction as 
the book of Ruth. But it is not merely- 
instructive, like the dry lessons of phi- 
losophy or mathematics; it is thrilling 
with interest, and teeming with human 
nature. 

Some persons have overlooked, or 
rather slighted, this part of the Divine 
record. They have taken a superficial 
view of it, and fastidiously concluded 
it was hardly worthy of general atten- 
tion, especially in mixed society. It 
was once the mistake of the writer of 
this volume, to entertain such senti- 
ments. 

Within a few months, a friend whom 
he esteemed, begged him to examine 
with attention the book of Ruth. He 
promised to do so. This little volume 
is among the fruits of that examination. 
He does not propose it as a substitute 

for the original — by no means. If it 

2* 



XIV INTRODUCTION. 

shall succeed in awakening an interest 
in the Scripture account itself, and 
lead others to conclusions similar to 
those which have been fostered in his 
own mind, his highest hopes in regard 
to its utility will be fully realized. He 
regards the book of Ruth as among the 
happiest pieces of narrative — were it 
viewed merely as a thing human — that 
the world has ever seen. 

Here is an indigent female, born 
among a rude people, regarded by the 
surrounding nations as u outcasts " and 
savages, working her way by her per- 
severance, her industry, her virtue, her 
piety, her innocence, her artlessness, 
her sweetness, and her simplicity, to 
the highest respectability, and into the 
walks of the most refined circles of a 
comparatively refined people. We be- 
hold her accomplishing all this, too, so 
far as we can ascertain, without being 
puffed up by her change of condition ; 



INTRODUCTION. XV 

even though she became the mistress 
of a splendid mansion or palace, and the 
wife of a prince and judge, if not the 
mayor of the ancient and distinguished 
city of Bethlehem. 

Nor is this all. We behold, in this 
once obscure female, the progenitor of 
David, the sweet singer as well as king 
of Israel, and of course, according to the 
flesh, the progenitor of our blessed Lord 
and Savior. The Chaldee writings 
say, in addition, that from the same line 
descended the four illustrious captive 
Jews of Babylon, Daniel, Shadrach, 
Meshach and Abednego. 

This little volume is designed for Bi- 
ble classes, as well as Sabbath schools. 
Nor would it be amiss if it should find 
its way into the hands of not a few pa- 
rents. For unless the writer is greatly 
mistaken in regard to the intrinsic merit 
of sacred narrative, and especially of 
the portion here considered, it is, like 



XVI INTRODUCTION. 

the holy gospel itself, " worthy of all 
acceptation," and should not stand un- 
read, and unreflected on in families. 
How many a child might have been 
encouraged by the example of Ruth, 
explained and illustrated at the domes- 
tic fireside, to resist temptation, escape 
crime and its punishment ; and through 
good report and through evil, pursue 
life's course, if with faltering, yet with 
sure footsteps, along the straight and 
narrow way that leads up to the heav- 
enly Paradise — to those blest fields, 
" fast by the throne of God." 

W. A. A. 

Boston, October, 1835. 



STORY OF RUTH, 



CHAP. I. 

The Moabites — who they were, and where they 
lived; with some Facts in their History. 

How many hundred times have I read 
in the Bible about the Moabites, with- 
out a single thought what sort of people 
they were, or where they lived; only 
that they lived somewhere not far from 
the land of Canaan. Now I will tell you 
where they lived, and from whom they 
descended. Indeed, it is very necessary 
that I should do so, because Ruth, whose 
story I am going to relate, was one of 
them. 

If you look in the thirteenth chapter 
of Genesis, you will find that when the 
keepers of the flocks and herds of Abra- 
ham and Lot quarrelled with each other, 
4 



20 STORY OF RUTH y 

Abraham and Lot agreed to separate; 
and Lot took his choice, what part of 
the country to live in. The region 
which he selected, was that through 
which the river Jordan runs, called the 
"Plain of Jordan." It was about ten 
miles wide, including both sides of the 
river, and was a very rich country; but 
the soil was richest about the mouth of 
the river, where it emptied into the 
Dead Sea. By this sea stood the famous 
cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, near 
which Lot himself chiefly dwelt. 

Lot had two sons, Moab and Ammon: 
Moab was born at about the same time 
with Isaac, the son of Abraham; that is, 
about the year of the world 2100, or 
more than 3700 years ago. When he 
left his father's house, and beg-an to 
have a family of his own, he settled on 
the east side of the Jordan, quite below 
its mouth, or rather on the east side of 
the Dead Sea. 

If you look on some map of Palestine 
(say Mr. Ingraham's) you will find a 
small river running into the Dead Sea, 



THE MOABITESS. 21 

on the eastern, or rather north-eastern 
side of it, called the river Arnon. The 
country which Moab and his descen- 
dants lived in, lay about this river, but 
chiefly south of it. The capital city lay 
near or upon it. This country was 
called Moab, after its first settler. 

When the Israelites, after being many 
years in the deserts of Arabia, under- 
took to pass along the eastern side of 
the Dead Sea, through Moab, the coun- 
try of which I have been speaking, Ba- 
^ak, the king of the Moabites, and his 
princes, opposed them. It is on this 
occasion, that we hear so much about 
Balaam, a very singular man, whom 
Balak sent for, from the east, to come 
to him and curse the Israelites. The 
latter, however, finally went through 
the country, but were not permitted to 
destroy any part of it, or its people; 
although they had hindered their jour- 
ney, and treated them ill besides. 

It was in or near the northern part of 
this country that Mount Nebo was situ- 
ated, — the hill which Moses ascended, 






22 STORY OF RUTH, 



in order to view Canaan, the country to 
the north-west, on the opposite or west- 
ern side of the Jordan; which, you know, 
he was not allowed to enter. It was 
here, in the land of Moab, too, that this 
wonderful man died; and it was some- 
where on the plain, near the Dead Sea, 
that he was buried; though nobody ever 
knew exactly where, except God, and 
the celestial messengers whom he em- 
ployed to perform for him this last sad 
office. 

I do not think Moab, the father of the 
Moabites, was a very good man himself. 
But whether he was so, or not, his peo- 
ple became very wicked after him; and 
the Israelites had great trouble with 
them. These troubles were greatly 
increased, as it would seem, by inter- 
marriages with the women of Moab, and 
by other imprudent and wicked conduct. 
From this, and perhaps various other 
causes, arose a great hatred between 
the Israelites and the Moabites, and 
many wars. Eglon, one of the kings of 
Moab, some time after Joshua's death, 



THE MOABITESS. £3 

greatly oppressed the Israelites; but he 
was killed by Ehud, one of their Judges, 
and the Moabites were driven out of the 
country. The Israelites usually held 
the Moabites in subjection; but some- 
times they were rather too strong for 
them. 

We may say, in general, that the 
country of the Moabites lay about fifty 
miles south-eastward of Jerusalem; and 
the Dead Sea was between. The events 
which are related in the following chap- 
ters, are supposed to have taken place 
about 2700 years after the creation of 
Adam and Eve, or nearly 3150 years 
ago. 

4* 



24 STORY OF RUTH, 

CHAP. II. 

Early History of Ruth. — Her Connections, Mar- 
riage, See. 

Ruth, the subject of the following 
narrative, was born in Moab, but as to 
her infancy, childhood, education, &c> 
the Scriptures are silent. As the Moab- 
ites, however, were ignorant of the true 
God, there is little doubt that, like the 
rest of her nation, she was brought up 
an idolater. The Jews have a tradition, 
that she was the daughter of Eglon, king 
of Moab; but this, from the Bible ac- 
count, does not seem at all probable. 

But though born in a wicked nation, 
and bred an idolater, Ruth possessed 
many good qualities. Such instances 
have often been known. Even in the 
very wilds of Africa and America, and 
among savages, you will find some peo- 
ple — females especially — whose charac- 
ters are, in several respects, amiable 
and excellent. 

Some may suppose that Ruth's good 
qualities were the result of her trials. 



THE MOABITESS. 25 

It may be so; but even this would ren- 
der it probable that she had a good dis- 
position in the first place; for adversity, 
sickness and the loss of friends, makes 
bad people worse, quite as often as it 
makes them better. It is only those, 
whose hearts are already right in the 
sight of God, who are sure to be im- 
proved by their trials. 

But as I have mentioned Ruth's trials, 
I will tell you first what they were; and 
this will lead as to the more interesting 
parts of her history. 

Do you know where Bethlehem was ? 
It was about five miles southward of 
Jerusalem. Its situation was high and 
healthy, and you could see a great way 
from it to the south-east, quite to the 
Dead Sea, which divided it from the 
land of Moab. 

Bethlehem is a very interesting place. 
It was the residence of many good and 
great men; among the rest, of Jesse, the 
father of king David; and here king Da- 
vid was born. Bethlehem was the birth 
place, too, of our Savior ; though this 
was never long his place of residence. 



26 STORY OF RUTH, 

Among the good men who have resi- 
ded in Bethlehem was Elimelech. Elim- 
elech had a wife whose name was Na- 
omi, and two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. 
JVIahlon means sickly , and Chilion means 
consumption; for the Hebrew names always 
meant something; and very often they 
expressed the real character of the per- 
sons who bore them. Whether in the 
present case, the two brothers were 
really feeble, as their names might im- 
ply, is uncertain; but there are reasons 
for thinking that they were, as we shall 
very soon see. 

The land of Canaan was subject to 
famine; and Judea, in which Bethle- 
hem was situated, was a part of Canaan. 
You will recollect the very remarkable 
famine in the time of Joseph, which was 
a great while before the days of Elime- 
lech; and also one which took place 
many years afterward, in the time of 
Elijah; when hardly anything grew for 
men or beasts to eat, for more than three 
years. 

Now there was one of these famines 
in the time of Elimelech. It does not 



THE MOABITESS. 27 

appear to have proved so distressing as 
many others were, still it was a fam- 
ine; and people were somewhat fright- 
ened, and Elimelech among the rest. 
But what could be done? 

I will tell you what was done by Elim- 
elech. The famine did not extend so 
far as the land of Moab. Elimelech was 
informed of this, and as it was only two 
or three days' journey around the north 
end of the Dead Sea to go there, he 
arranged his affairs at home, and re- 
moved among the Moabites, intending 
to stay there till the famine was over. 

Many who have read the story in the 
Bible, blame Elimelech for removing. 
They say he might as well have staid 
at home as other people; for we do not 
know that any others removed. In his 
own country, the true God was known 
and worshiped, and he had many priv- 
ileges, which he could not have in other 
countries. Besides, the land of Moab 
was one of the worst places to live in, 
and bring up a family of children in, that 
he could possibly have selected. Many 



28 STORY OF RUTH 



say that he ought to have trusted in 
God, and remained where he was. 

Perhaps he did wrong. It is proba- 
ble that he was very fond of property, 
and that one object in going out to Moab, 
or at least in remaining there, after he 
had arrived, was to get property faster 
than he could get it in his own country. 
He already possessed much property, 
and the more people have, the more? 
usually, they are anxious to obtain. 

How many people who are in comfort- 
able circumstances, remove to new coun- 
tries, to get property faster, and to be 
able, as they say, to provide better for 
their children, as they grow up to man- 
hood; although in so doing they often 
shut themselves out from schools and 
public worship on the Sabbath, and from 
good society; and become the means of 
leading their children into such habits 
that property is of no consequence to 
them ! 

But to return to Elimelech. Some 
years after his removal into the land of 
Moab, he died. After his death, his two 



THE MOABITESS. 29 

sons, Mahlon and Chilion, married in the 
country. This was a wrong step. It 
was the custom of their countrymen, 
and appeared to be more agreeable to 
the will of God, to marry among their 
own nation. And Moab was not so far 
away from Judea but what they might 
easily have gone thither in pursuit of 
companions, had they chose. Above all, 
they ought not to have married among 
such a vicious people as the Moabites. 
But God, who often brings good out 
of evil, so ordered things, as to bring 
about good results from these mistakes 
of Mahlon and Chilion. For though the 
two young men did not live very long 
after their marriage, they appear to have 
lived very happily with their wives. 
The latter survived them many years, 
and their history is very instructive. 
One of the widows was Ruth, the sub- 
ject of this narrative ; the name of the 
other was Orpah. 






30 STORY OF RUTH, 

CHAP. III. 

Naomi and Ruth go to Bethlehem. 

We have seen that Naomi, and Ruth, 
and Orpah, were now all widows, and 
that Naomi was in a land of strangers. 
No wonder she grew anxious to return 
to her own country, and watched, with 
great anxiety, the cessation of the fam- 
ine. Naomi — whatever we may think 
of her husband — was evidently a woman 
of piety; and if, along with her husband, 
she had ever entertained any high no- 
tions, it is most probable that her afflic- 
tions and trials had proved the means of 
humbling her. 

The famine had at length ceased. 
Naomi had "heard in the country of 
Moab, how that the Lord had visited his 
people in giving them bread." How 
long she remained in the land of Moab, 
after she heard this welcome intelli- 
gence, is unknown. At length, how- 
ever, she began to make preparation to 
return to Bethlehem. 

In setting out on her journey, her two 



THE MOABITESS. 31 

daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, 
accompanied her. She seems to have 
had no servant with her, to attend her, 
or see to her baggage; and perhaps she 
urged Orpah and Ruth to go a little way 
with her, to see to her effects, or perhaps 
they chose to go, out of civility and 
kindness. 

If this attention of Orpah and Ruth 
to their mother-in-law, was nothing more 
than a mere act of kindness, it yet shows 
us that they had lived together on good 
terms, and were sorry to separate. 
Mothers-in-law, and daughters-in-law, 
do not always live very happily togeth- 
er; and therefore when they do, as in 
the case before us, it is very much to 
the credit of both the two parties. 

How far Orpah and Ruth intended to 
go, when they set out, it is impossible, 
perhaps, to conjecture. It might have 
been their purpose to go as far as the 
borders of their own country, and then 
return. If so, Ruth, on her journey, 
altered her purpose; as we shall see 
presently. 

5 



32 STORY OP RUTH, 

Having traveled on together as far 
as Naomi thought it best for her daugh- 
ters to go, she embraced them both, in 
the most tender and affectionate man- 
ner, and begged them to return each to 
the family of her mother; for their own 
mothers, it would seem, were still living, 
in the l^nd of Moab. She trusted, she 
said, that they would marry again, and 
live as happily with their new, as once 
they had with their former husbands. 

At first, Orpah and Ruth both refused 
to leave her, and insisted on going home 
with her. Among the Jews, and espe- 
cially in those days, if a husband died, 
without any children, it was the duty of 
his brother, if he had any, to marry his 
widow; for it was deemed important and 
honorable to raise up a family to bear 
the father's name. And if there was no 
brother of the deceased, then the duty 
of marrying the widow devolved on the 
nearest male relation. This was so gen- 
erally the custom, and was thought so 
very proper, that the persons concerned, 
whether males or females, did not scru- 



THE MOABITESS. 33 

pie to speak of it just as they did of any- 
other common occurrence. 

Although Ruth and Orpah were both 
greatly attached to Naomi, it is possible 
that one object in view in going to Beth- 
lehem with her, was, that their loss 
might be partly made up, by marriage 
with Mahlon and Chilion's nearest rela- 
tions. This idea is confirmed by what 
Naomi said to them to dissuade them 
from going. She told them plainly, that 
if she should marry again, and have a 
second family of sons, they would be so 
young, that it would be improper for 
Ruth and Orpah to wait till they were 
grown men, before they married. 

She reasoned with them a long time; 
but however strong their affections were 
towards their own mothers, and their 
other near relatives in the land of Moab, 
they were still more strongly attached to 
Naomi, and could not bear to part with 
her. They " lifted up their voice and 
wept " repeatedly. At last, Orpah con- 
cluded to return, and again kissing her 
mother-in-law, bade her a last farewell. 



34 STORY OF RUTH, 

And what became of her ? The Bible 
does not tell. Perhaps she went back, 
some of you may say to yourselves, and 
having learned by the example of her 
mother-in-law, how much better the 
Jewish religion was than the idolatrous 
worship of her own country, spent her 
life in teaching it to her neighbors and 
friends. No; this was not the fact. It 
is pretty evident, from the little we are 
told respecting her, that she finally 
returned to the worship of idols, with 
the rest of the Moabites. 

It is very difficult to live where the 
people are all bad, and not catch the 
disease; that is, become bad like them. 
Can one tread on live coals and not be 
burnt? says the Scripture, alluding, if I 
mistake not, to this very difficulty. 

Yes; it is possible, though difficult. 
Joseph was tried in a very hot furnace 
of affliction at the court of Pharaoh, and 
yet not burnt; and with the help of God, 
others may " go and do likewise." Or- 
pah might have done so ; but, from 
what follows, it is nearly certain that 



THE MOABITESS. 35 

she did not. Had she possessed the 
right feelings and disposition, she would 
not, I think, have returned, but would 
have done as Ruth did. How was that ? 
I will tell you. 

When Orpah had bid her mother 
farewell, and was going away, the 
mother turned to Ruth, and urged her 
once more to go with Orpah. It has 
surprised some readers that she could 
have given her such advice, and yet 
have been sincere. She loved Orpah 
and Ruth both : why then should she 
advise them to leave her ? 

The case, I think, was as follows : 
Naomi was a good woman; but she was 
willing to try her daughters-in-law, on 
an occasion like this. She did not wish 
thern to go to Bethlehem merely for the 
love they bore to her; but if they went, 
she wished them to go out of regard, 
also, to the God whom she, and her 
brethren the Jews, worshiped. She 
wished them to count the cost before- 
hand. People are more apt to set out 

on an expedition than to persevere. It 

5* 



36 STORY OF RUTH, 

is well, always, to look at the worst side 
of a case; and not be rash, and begin a 
work to-day, which we shall be sorry 
to-morrow that we had not let alone. 
When a certain person, in the heat of 
his zeal, told the Savior he would fol- 
low him, let him go where he might, the 
Savior told him that he " had not 
where to lay his head;" as much almost 
as to say, u Do not be hasty. Consider 
well the matter, and whether you can 
fare as I do." Naomi dealt much in the 
same way with Orpah and Ruth, and 
Orpah, as we have seen, turned back. 
But Ruth was not to be persuaded so 
easily. She seems to have made up her 
mind; and to have left her native coun- 
try, and her kindred according to the 
flesh, for ever. Her reply to her mother- 
in-law showed this beyond a doubt, and 
settled the question. " Entreat me not 
to leave thee," said she, " or to return 
from following after thee; for whither 
thou goest, I will go; and where thou 
lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be 
my people, and thy God, my God. 



THE MOABITESS. 37 

Where thou diest, will I die, and there 
will I be buried. The Lord do so tome, 
and more also, if aught but death part 
thee and me." 

Here was the true spirit of filial affec- 
tion. All children ought to have the 
same strong affection for their good 
parents and friends that Ruth had for 
her mother-in-law. I do not say that 
they ought, like Ruth, always to stay by 
them, and never to leave them till they 
die; though I think that some member 
or members of every family ought to do 
so. In no other way can we repay the 
vast debt we owe our parents and grand- 
parents, for what they have done for us, 
in our tender years, than by bringing 
up, with the same care and perseverance, 
families of our own, and standing by 
them in their declining years, and sup- 
porting and comforting them. But 
where there are large families, it may 
be, and often is, the duty of some of the 
children, to leave home for a while, per- 
haps for ever. In such cases, they should 
be willing to go. They should have a 



38 STORY OF RUTH, 

desire to stay, as strong, if you please, 
as Ruth's was; but yet they should be 
more anxious to do just what Divine 
Providence seems to say they ought to 
do, than merely to gratify their own 
inclinations. 

In the last clause of what Ruth said 
to Naomi,— " The Lord do so to me, 
and more also, if aught but death part 
thee and me," Ruth seems to have 
confirmed what she had been saying 
with an oath. I do not see that there 
was any necessity of doing this ; but the 
historian says she did it. I suppose 
Naomi would have believed her resolu- 
tion was a strong one, without it ; but 
oaths were very fashionable in those 
days. I speak now of solemn oaths, such 
as Ruth's no doubt was. Oaths, on 
common occasions, every body of good 
sense ought to condemn. 

In the " Chaldee paraphrase " (as it 
is called) of this part of the Bible, the 
conversation between Naomi and Ruth, 
which I have just mentioned, is related 
somewhat differently. It is so curious, 
that, on the authority of Mr. Henry, I 



THE MOABITESS. 39 

will insert it here, just as it stands in 
his Commentary. 

" Ruth said [to her mother], Entreat 
me not to leave thee, for I will be a 
proselyte. Naomi said, We are com- 
manded to keep sabbaths, and good 
days, on which we may not travel above 
a thousand cubits (a Sabbath day's 
journey). Well, says Rath, whither 
thou goest, I will go. Naomi said, We 
are commanded not to tarry all night 
with Gentiles. Well, says Ruth, where 
thou lodgest, I will lodge. Naomi said, 
We are commanded to keep six hundred 
and thirteen precepts. Well, says Ruth, 
whatever thy people keep, I will keep, 
for they shall be my people. Naomi 
said, We are forbidden to worship any 
strange god. Well, says Ruth, thy God 
shall be my God. Naomi said, We have 
four sorts of deaths for malefactors, — 
stoning, burning, strangling, and slaying 
with the sword. Well, says Ruth, 
where thou diest, I will die. We have, 
said Naomi, houses of sepulchres. And 
there, said Ruth, will I be buried." 



40 STORY OF RUTH, 

But to go on with our narrative : 
Orpah having gone back to her idola- 
trous friends, Naomi and Ruth proceed- 
ed on their journey. What think you 
were their thoughts, as the land of Mo- 
ab became hid behind the hills of the 
" farther side of Jordan," as it was 
called, which they were now travers- 
ing, and as they came in view of the 
hills of Judea, stretching as far west of 
the plains of the Jordan as the eye 
could reach ? Do you think Ruth 
was homesick ? What if she was ? Her 
mind was made up, and she would not 
desire to go back. All she had to do 
now was to go forward, and, trusting in 
God, carry out her own good resolu- 
tions. 

They were now approaching the river 
Jordan : how were they to get across ? 
This I cannot tell you. The river had 
two banks. During the dry season, it 
was not twenty rods wide, and not more 
than two or three feet deep, and almost 
any one could easily wade through it; 
while, during another part of the year, 



THE MOABITESS. 41 

it overflowed its first banks, and 
spread out a great way, till it met an- 
other set of banks. When Joshua and 
the children of Israel, and Elijah and 
Elisha, crossed it, the water was prob- 
ably up to the banks last mentioned ; 
but would not Naomi be apt to choose a 
season when the river was low ? # Per- 
haps they went up the river to a place 
called Bethabara, and crossed on a 
bridge; or perhaps there were boats or 
flats, on which a few persons could 
cross, though not a large multitude, 
like the children of Israel, under Joshua. 
However this might have been, Nao- 
mi and Ruth crossed the river in some 
way, and proceeded towards Bethle- 
hem. It was a lonesome and some- 
what dangerous road to travel ; but 
they had an Almighty Keeper, and, 
under his care and guidance, why 
should they fear ? Perhaps, too, Nao- 

* As they arrived in Judea in barley harvest, 
in May, I am convinced, the more I reflect on 
the subject, that the river must have been, at 
this time, quite ford able. 



42 STORY OF RUTH, 

mi contrived to beguile the tedious 
hours by pleasing conversation with 
Ruth, and by instructing her in the 
manners, customs and habits of the 
country to which she was going. Ruth 
would need a great deal of this sort of 
instruction. Every body needs the in- 
structions of those who have had more 
or longer experience, especially with 
regard to a new country, and new sort 
of people; and I have no doubt that 
Ruth felt the want of this kind of knowl- 
edge very sensibly; and attended to all 
that Naomi said on the subject. Mean- 
while their journey was drawing to a 
close, and they soon reached the plains 
of Bethlehem. 



THE MOABITESS. 43 

CHAP. IV. 

Their Reception at Bethlehem. 

Naomi and her daughter reached 
Bethlehem in a very pleasant season. 
The famine was now over ; the spring 
had been favorable ; it was now about 
the end of April, or the first of May ; 
the latter rains, as they were called, had 
ripened the wheat and the rye, and the 
earliest apples,* and the barley ; and 
they were just beginning their harvest 
of barley. The wheat harvest was a 
few days later. Ruth was thus intro- 
duced to the country at a favorable 
time to make her attached to it, and con- 
tented in it. First impressions are very 
strong and permanent : and it is always 

* Some x>f my readers may be surprised to 
hear that they had apples in this country ; but 
travelers and historians represent it so. The 
first we hear of the apple is in Armenia, a coun- 
try not far from Palestine. It was brought 
from this country into Europe by the Romans, 
I do not think, however, that apples were eyer 
very abundant in Palestine. 

6 



44 STORY OF RUTH, 

a happy circumstance, when new coun- 
tries, and new faces of good friends, 
appear well to us. 

But the whole city — so the strong 
language of the Bible expresses it — was 
moved at their arrival, and they said, 
" Is this Naomi ?" She told them not 
to call her Naomi, but Mara. The 
word Naomi meant pleasant and amiable; 
but Mara meant bitter or bitterness. As 
she left the country, ten years before, 
rich and prosperous and happy, but had 
now returned poor and destitute and 
unhappy ; so she seemed to think that 
Naomi was not, at present, a proper 
name for her. 

Still it does not appear that she in- 
dulged herself in complaining. On the 
contrary, poor as she was, she seems 
to have been quite composed, and con- 
tented with her condition. It was the 
people of Bethlehem who were discom- 
posed. Her coarse clothes, her want 
of servants, and her wrinkled face, sur- 
prised them ; for ten years, and much 
trouble, must have greatly altered her 



THE MOABITESS. 45 

appearance ; and though they had prob- 
ably heard of her coming and arrival, 
they could hardly believe it was she. 

The interest which her friends and 
neighbors seem to have taken in her, 
shows how much she was beloved and 
respected in Bethlehem. It was true, 
that some of those who said, " Is this 
Naomi?" might have intended to upbraid 
her. They might have meant, " Is this 
she, that, though in good circumstances, 
much better than most of us, could not 
be contented to stay at home and brave 
the famine as we did, but must needs 
ramble off into a strange country ? See, 
now, what she has got by it ! " The 
greater part of them, however, seem to 
me to have felt very differently from all 
this. They thought of her former ap- 
pearance, her good and well furnished 
house, her kindness to the miserable, 
her compassion for the sick and suffer- 
ing, and her charity for the poor ; and 
contrasting all this with her haggard, 
care-worn and wretched present appear- 
ance, it is no wonder that all they 



46 STORY OF RUTH, 

should say — and say it in pity, and sor- 
row, and tenderness, too — Is this Nao- 
mi? 

Whether Naomi and Ruth were per- 
mitted again to occupy the house for- 
merly owned by Elimelech, we are not 
directly told ; though it does not seem 
probable that they were. As the estate 
appears to have been mortgaged for 
debt, by Elimelech, it had probably 
passed into other hands, and the house 
into the care of new occupants. Per- 
haps our two friends were content to 
live as mere boarders in some good and 
virtuous family ; but how this may have 
been, it is impossible for us to tell. 



THE MOABITESS. 47 

CHAP. V. 

Their Employment at Bethlehem. 

But how were Naomi and Ruth to be 
supported at Bethlehem ? They had 
nothing" to do — no employment, I mean, 
of their own. Must they beg for a 
living ? 

"People who are willing to work, can 
usually find something to do. They 
may not, it is true, always be able to 
choose their employment ; but it is very 
seldom indeed, that they are compelled 
to be idle. And most people, even those 
who are lazy, or who think themselves 
too good to labor, had much rather 
work than starve. 

From what we know of them, we 
have every reason to believe that Nao- 
mi and Ruth were both very willing to 
labor ; though I am not quite sure that 
Naomi, who was now rather old, was 
able to do much. What she could do, 
she was most undoubtedly desirous of 
doing ; and fortunately for her, Ruth 
6* 



48 STOR? OF RUTH, 

was able and willing to work for herself 
and her mother too. 

Many children think it a great burden 
to do any thing for their parents or 
grandparents ; and I have seen a few 
who would have their parents wait on 
them. They seem to have no idea of 
earning every thing which they have, 
as soon as they are old enough, as eve- 
ry child ought to do. Some children 
will do things for their own parents, but 
complain and find fault if asked to assist 
their other friends or their teachers, or 
especially a good mother-in-law. 

But Ruth was none of this sort of 
people : she seemed just as willing to 
assist Naomi, and labor for her support, 
as well as her own, as if Naomi had 
been her own mother. Here is one of 
the finest examples for us, which can 
be found in the world. 

Nor is any thing said in the Bible 
about her getting homesick. Some young 
people, had they been in her condition, 
might have said to themselves, " Fine 
times these! Is this the land of Canaan, 



THE MOABITESS. 49 

. about whose fruitfulness, except in years 
of famine, I have been told so much ? Is 
this the country which " flows with milk 
and honey," and yet a poor girl, a stran- 
ger, must work to earn her very living, 
or else starve; and not only work to sup- 
port herself, but also to support an aged 
mother-in-law? If this is the case, it 
were far better for me to have staid in 
Moab, a land of plenty; and the sooner 
I go back to it the better." 

But she said no such thing, and had 
no such feelings. She was in a country 
where the true God was worshiped. 
She trusted in Him, and believed that 
she should be supplied. She was ready 
to go to work cheerfully at the first em- 
ployment that offered, which was not 
beyond her strength. 

/And what employment do you think 
did first offer ? I have already told you 
that it was now barley harvest. The 
females of Bethlehem were accustomed 
to work, sometimes, in the fields, as it 
now is in many parts of the world, 
especially in harvest time. It is true, 



50 STORY OF RUTH 



that they did not take the sickle and 
reap, that we know of; but they used 
to glean ; that is, follow after the reap- 
ers, at a distance, and pick up what 
they left. This employment, though it 
darkened their complexion, made them 
healthy, when they did not work too 
hard. It would be well for the females 
of this country, if they were employed 
several hoars a day in the open air, at 
some kind of light work. 

Ruth saw the reapers at their work, 
and the maidens following them ; and it 
occurred to her at once, that she, too, 
could glean barley. So she consulted 
Naomi about it ; and Naomi advised her 
to go. 

How prudent she was ! Though she 
might have been from twenty-five to 
thirty years of age, she did not hesitate 
to ask advice of those who were still 
older. Not that she was ashamed to be 
seen in the fields, as I have already in- 
timated; but she knew very little about 
the customs of the country, and thought 
it could do no harm, and might do great 



THE MOABITESS. 51 

good, to talk with her mother about it. 
And she thought and acted wisely. 

A friend is always valuable, even at 
home. But how much more so, in a 
strange land ! Thousands get into diffi- 
culty for the want of one. " Without a 
friend, the world is bat a wilderness," 
says a very common school book, and 
immediately adds; " If you have one 
friend, think yourself happy." Most of 
my readers have many — they have pa- 
rents, grandparents, brothers or sis- 
ters. These are all usually among the 
number of good friends; and should be 
- regarded as such, and on every proper 
occasion, consulted. Ruth had but one 
real friend, as yet, in Bethlehem, that 
we know of. But she had more very 
soon. 

Do you know how she obtained them? 
In what way can we ever obtain good 
friends — I mean besides our parents and 
other relatives — except by good beha- 
viour ? This is the true secret of obtain- 
ing friends. Those who behave proper- 
ly, will soon find friends, everywhere. 



52 STORY OF RUTH, 

It was in this way that Ruth, though 
she never had enjoyed the advantages 
of a good bringing up — of religious pa- 
rents and teachers, and of going to 
school — as you have, secured good 
friends in the land of Canaan, as we 
shall see in the following chapters. 



CHAP. VJ. 

Ruth gleaning. — She meets ivith Boaz. 

Naomi, though poor, had rich rela- 
tives. Among them was Boaz, the son 
of Salmon, a branch of the same family 
with that to which Elimelech her hus- 
band belonged. He was said to be a 
" mighty man of wealth." What is 
meant by the word mighty, in this con- 
nection, I do not know; perhaps he was 
mighty in the Scriptures; that is, a 
learned doctor of the Jewish law, as 
some suppose. 

At any rate, he was a man of wealth; 



THE MOAEITESS. 53 

and a part of his wealth consisted of 
landed estate. As it was now harvest 
time, he had a great number of laborers 
reaping in his fields near to Bethlehem, 
under the care of a steward or overseer; 
and many young women were gleaning 
after them. 

As Ruth went out to glean barley, it 
happened — for it appears to have been 
what we call an accident — that she went 
into the very field where the laborers of 
Boaz were at work. The employment 
of gleaning was free to any body. The 
law of the Jews did not permit the owner 
of a field to go over it a second time, or 
glean it, whether the crop was fruit 
or grain. He was obliged to leave that 
which was scattered in going over it the 
first time, for the poor, the fatherless, 
and the widow; — for just such people, 
in one word, as Ruth was. No wonder 
then, if Ruth had gone boldly into the 
field to glean when and where she 
pleased, without making any apology; 
but she chose not to do so, as we shall 
see presently. 



54 STORY OF RUTH, 

Before she had been long in the field, 
Boaz, the owner, came into it. Though 
he was a " mighty man of wealth," he 
does not appear to have been proud or 
haughty. If he did not actually labor 
with his own hands — for it sometimes 
happens that the rich have so much 
business, that they find no time to work 
themselves — he was not ashamed to go 
to the field and see his overseer, and con- 
sult with him, as well as converse with 
and encourage the workmen. Those 
who toil hard for another person, think 
much better of him, and work much more 
cheerfully, and do their work better, 
if he visits them occasionally, than if 
he does not. There is an old proverb, 
that u the master's eye makes a fat 
horse;" and another, equally in point, 
which is, " If you want your business 
done, go yourself; if not, send." 

Boaz understood all this, and acted ac- 
cordingly. He came into the field where 
the reapers were and spake kindly to 
them. The Scripture language is, " The 
Lord be with you." They also answered 



THE MOABITESS, 55 

him in the same kind manner: " The 
Lord bless thee." No ill will seems to 
have existed between them, because 
one party was rich and the other poor: 
quite the contrary. Nor did they — such 
at least appears to have been the fact — 
fall to complaining about, or slandering 
him, as soon as his back was turned 
away from them . They not only regard- 
ed him as a good master, but at the same 
time as an equal, and a friend. Their 
language also, on both sides, seems to 
imply that they were not only kindly dis- 
posed to each other, but that they were 
pious people. If the reapers, or the ma- 
jority of them, were really men that 
feared and loved God, this will account 
for that kind and respectful treatment of 
Ruth, while in the field, at which some 
of us might otherwise wonder. 

Boaz, in passing, had observed a female 
among the gleaners, whom he was not 
accustomed to see there; and on going 
to the reapers, he gave them particular 
directions not to insult or touch her, but 
to treat her respectfully and kindly; not 
7 



56 STORY OF RUTH, 

suspecting 1 , however, who it was. It is 
a sign of a good master, when he takes 
so much pains as this, not to have his 
servants or laborers insult or injure those 
aro-ind them. 

After a little conversation with the 
reapers, and setting all right in regard 
to their work, if any thing was wrong, 
Boaz asked his overseer what young 
damsel it was — a stranger — that he saw 
gleaning. " It is the Moabitish damsel," 
saidhe, " that came back with Naomi, 
out of the country of Moab." 

The overseer, finding Boaz anxious to 
know particulars, gave him a full ac- 
count of all the circumstances; how she 
came to him in the morning, and instead 
of gleaning without permission, as she 
might lawfully have done, as she was a 
stranger and a widow, in poverty, asked 
for the favor. He said, also, that she 
was very industrious: that from the time 
she began her labor in the morning, till 
Boaz came — which appears to have been 
nearly noon — she had not stopped but 
once; and that was in the heat of the day, 
to take a little repose, or perform her 
devotions, or both. 



THE MOABITESS. 57 

Boaz was very much pleased with the 
account given by his overseer. He ven- 
tured to go to her himself, and calling 
her his daughter, advised her to con- 
tinue to glean in his fields among his 
maidens; that she would not better her 
condition by going any where else, es- 
pecially where there were none of her 
own sex, assuring her that his servants 
and workmen would treat her with all 
possible tenderness and respect; which 
was more than he could have promised 
her in regard to others, — those over 
whom he had no control. He not only 
told her to drink freely of the water 
which he had provided for the young 
men who were reaping, (for water was 
the drink used by the Bethlehemites 
during harvest,) but also to partake free- 
ly of all their entertainments. 

Such kindness for a person so much 
above her as Ruth considered Boaz, 
surprised her; and in her amazement 
she could not help falling down on her 
face before him, and acknowledging his 
kindness; at the same time modestly in- 



58 STORY OF RUTH, 

quiring why he should show her, a poor 
stranger, so many favors. 

Boaz then told her what he heard of 
her kind treatment and tender attach- 
ment to Naomi; and of her giving up, for 
her sake and for the sake of the true 
God and the Jewish religion, all her 
friends in Moab, and coming to live with 
Naomi, in her poverty, and among stran- 
gers, at Bethlehem. It seems to me most 
probable, that it was on this occasion 
that Boaz made himself known to Ruth, 
and showed her that he was not only a 
friend, but a relative of her mother-in- 
law. He closed his remarks by praying 
that God would bless her, and take care 
of her. Ruth, in return, treated him 
with all possible respect, and expressed 
a great deal of unfeigned humility and 
gratitude for his attention to her. 

Little did Ruth think — if indeed the 
fact were so — that Boaz had already 
become attached to her, for he was old 
enough to be her father. Still less did 
she dream, at this early period, that she 



THE MOABITESS. 59 

should one day be the mistress of the 
very field in which she was now gleaning. 

Before the conversation was ended, 
Boaz repeated his invitation to Ruth to 
come and partake freely of the enter- 
tainment prepared for the young men. 
It was probably now about dinner time, 
that is, eleven o'clock; for the Jews did 
not dine at two or three o'clock in the 
afternoon, as is becoming very fashiona- 
ble now-a-days; but at eleven in the fore- 
noon, which, though rather early, is a 
much better hour than two. or even cne. 
It seems that Boaz had made such libe- 
ral provision for his workmen that they 
had enough for themselves, as well as 
something to spare to strangers. 

When the dinner hour came, Boaz 
was himself present — whether by design 
or accident does not appear — and he sat 
at the table by the reapers, and helped 
Ruth to such things as they had. espe- 
cially the parched corn (wheat or bar- 
ley). One kind of food which they used, 
was bread dipped in vinegar; and it was 
offered to Ruth, but we are not told 

whether she partook of it or not. Many 

7* 



60 flTORT OF RUTH, 

people would not like it, especially if 
unaccustomed to it; and I doubt whether 
Ruth did. The parched grain she ap- 
pears to have been fond enough of; for 
she ate freely of it, and had more than 
she wanted. When she had dined, she 
left the table immediately, and returned 
to her gleaning. 

When she was gone, Boaz repeated 
his request to the reapers, not to disturb 
her in any way; but to favor her even 
more than other gleaners; and to leave 
some handfuls of the grain on purpose 
for her. All this might have been out 
of pure respect for Ruth, and friendship 
for Naomi; but it was certainly very 
remarkable, and produced remarkable 
results, as we shall see in the progress 
of the story. 



THE MOABITESS. 61 

CHAP. VII. 

Ruth finishes her Day's Work, and returns to 
her Mother. 

Ruth, it seems, did not eat so much 
at dinner, that she could not go imme- 
diately to work again. She probably 
ate no longer than the food strengthened 
her, and prepared her for action. 

Some persons whom I have seen, eat 
as long as they can without actual pain 
in their stomachs. They seem to think 
they can never eat too much, as long as 
they can hold more. This greedy, glut- 
tonous sort of people, seldom chew their 
food sufficiently either; they swallow it 
almost whole. 

Others take it for granted, that if they 
leave off hungry, that is, just before the 
appetite begins to flag, they are quite 
temperate and moderate. This is a bet- 
ter rule than none; but if people do not 
chew their food very finely, they may 
still eat a great deal too much, before 
the appetite will become satisfied. 

There is a better rule than this ; 



62 STORY OF RUTH, 

which is to eat very slowly, and eat 
proper food, and masticate (chew) it 
well; and eat no longer than it appears 
to invigorate and strengthen us. When 
we begin to feel dull from eating, it is 
high time to stop. This is the best rule 
I know. It is the one that Ruth fol- 
lowed, or ought to have done. 

She continued her work in the field 
till evening. Then she beat the barley 
out of what she had collected, and found 
it amounted to an ephah, which was 
about a bushel. And all this, too, with- 
out placing much dependence on the 
scattered ears which Boaz promised to 
leave for her. Indeed, there is room 
to doubt whether she meddled with 
them at all ; for it is said that she con- 
tinued to glean in the field; and as we 
should naturally think, just as she did 
before he gave her so much liberty. 

How large a parcel is thus collected, 
ear by ear, during a long summers day ! 
And what a pattern of industry and of 
perseverance does this interesting story 
afford us ! 



THE MOAEITESS. 63 

When Ruth had threshed out her 
bushel of barley, what did she do with 
it? Did she ask somebody to carry it 
into the city for her ? Or did she send 
for a servant to come and carry it for 
her, as many fashionable people now 
do, when they might often carry it them- 
selves just as well? Ruth did neither. 
She took it up, and carried it home to 
her mother, herself. And it did not hurt 
her, that we know of, fatigued as she 
was. How few of our modern females 

j could carry a bushel of barley, as Ruth 
did, if they would! But why not? Be- 
cause they have not been accustomed 

j to plenty of exercise, as Ruth had been. 
Though Ruth kept at work all day, 
she did not work late at evening. She 
went home in good season. The day is 
usually long enough for people to work 
in, in summer, if they rise early. They 
should go to bed when it is night. Some 
might have loitered to talk with the 
maidens, or the reapers; but Ruth ap- 
pears to have gone directly home with- 
out saying a word to any body. 



1 



64 STORY OF RUTH, 

And what did she do when she got 
home ? Why, just what every good and 
affectionate daughter would have done, 
in such a case. She showed her mother 
her bushel of barley, and presented her 
with what remained of the parched corn 
which had been given her at dinner. 

Surprised at her success, Naomi asked 
her where she had been gleaning that 
day.* So she told her what had hap- 
pened; and that the name of the owner 
of the field, who had dealt so kindly 
with her, was Boaz. Then Naomi saw 
through the whole affair. And she said 
to her daughter-in-law, " Blessed be he 

* Here is an excellent lesson for the young, as 
well as for parents. Old as Ruth was, Naomi 
did not hesitate to require her to give an aecount 
of herself — how and where she had spent the 
day; — and the latter did not hesitate to do as she 
required. There is not the least hint that Ruth 
felt as if her mother was too inquisitive, or was 
disposed to meddle with what did not belong to 
her. On the contrary, she told her, with all 
the simplicity of a child, every thing that had 
happened. 



THE MOABITESS. 65 

of the Lord who hath not left off his 
kindness to the living- and to the dead." 
It is possib'e that Naomi had been so 
long in the land of Moab, that she had 
either partly or wholly forgotten some 
of her kindred in Judea. But this cir- 
cumstance at once brought the matter 
to her mind; and so she told Ruth how 
it was. " The man is near of kin to 
us,"saidshe; "one of our next kinsmen." 



CHAP. VIII. 

Conversation between Naomi and Ruth. 

The circumstances of the day had 
greatly interested both the mother and 
the daughter; so they continued the 
conversation. Ruth recollected and rela- 
ted all she could of the remarks of Boaz; 
how, among the rest, he requested her 
to follow his laborers and glean in his 
fields, as long as the harvest lasted. 
Naomi approved of the plan, and 



66 STORY OF RUTH, 

advised her to do as he had proposed. 
She had become a little acquainted with 
the other maidens that gleaned in the 
same fields, and was doing- very well — 
certainly a bushel of barley a day was 
no mean compensation — and why, then, 
should she wish to go elsewhere? The 
young and the fickle are very fond of 
novelty. When doing well enough, they 
wish to do better. Eager for more, they 
are very apt to lose what they already 
possess. 

Ruth followed the good advice of her 
mother and Boaz. Every morning found 
her early at her labor ; and every eve- 
ning she returned with the avails thereof 
to her mother. When the barley har- 
vest was over, the wheat harvest fol- 
lowed it, and she continued gleaning till 
the close of the latter. Here, in the 
fields of Boaz, she laid the foundation 
of a good reputation in the neighbor- 
hood, and prepared the way for that 
permanent friendship of a very worthy 
man which ended not till death. 

I have intimated that Ruth did not 



THE MOABITESS. 67 

probably converse with the reapers. 
Not that she thought herself better than 
they. By no means. But it would have 
been wholly improper. There is a time, 
the wise man Solomon has said, for all 
things ; and there might have been proper 
times for Ruth to converse with the 
reapers. But young men, in harvest 
time, are sometimes apt to be rude; and 
if they have strong drink among them, 
insolent. Boaz understood this per- 
fectly, and had guarded as well as he 
could against it, in the manner I have 
already told you. He had done all that 
it was proper or necessary for him to 
do. Ruth, with the aid of her mother, 
must do the rest. 

No doubt Naomi gave her daughter 
good and plain instructions every eve- 
ning, after she had finished her labor, 
how to behave; and there is as little 
doubt that the daughter profited from 
her instructions. We have already seen 
that she loved to go to her mother, old 
as she was, for advice; especially as she 

was a stranger, in a strange country; 
8 






68 STORY OF RUTH, 

i and I think I might have told you more. 
I might have given it as my opinion that 
she even obeyed her commands, almost 
as much as if she were a child. 

There are some young people of both 
sexes, who seem to think that as soon 
as they are tall enough to be called men 
or women, they are too old to obey pa- 
rents. They seem ashamed to have it 
known to their mates that they are con- 
trolled in any degree, by others — even 
their parents. Now this is very foolish. 
We sometimes need the advice, the gov- 
ernment, and it may be, the censure or 
the correction of our parents, after we 
are thirty years old. Indeed, there is no 
age whatever, if we are wise, that should 
set us wholly free from the duty of yield- 
ing, in some cases, to the will of wise 
and experienced parents ; and — I repeat 
it — those young persons who think that 
because they are twenty-one, they are too 
old to be directed or governed, have yet 
to learn their own ignorance and folly! 

When I think over this interesting 
story of Ruth, and especially at the 



THE MOABITESS. 69 

period when she was a poor stranger, 
following the reapers, near the city of 
Bethlehem, and gathering up the scat- 
tering heads of barley to support herself 
and a poor mother-in-law, imagination 
sometimes transports me to the spot, and 
I watch, or rather fancy I watch, her 
movements and conduct, for a whole 
day. For the sake of some of my young 
female readers, I will give them her 
history for the whole of one of these 
harvest days; premising that it is, in no 
small degree, the work of imagination. 



CHAP. IX. 



Ruth's Conduct, One Day at Bethlehem. 
General Remarks. 

She rose early, as was the custom of 
the Jews, generally. The sun, as it 
seemed to come up out of the valley of 
the Jordan in the east, and peep over 
the intervening hills upon the plains of 



70 STORY OF RUTH, 

Bethlehem, found Ruth already awake 
and up. She had risen with the first 
rays of light that found their way to her 
chamber, and the first that were abroad 
reached her, for she had no blinds or 
shutters to exclude them ; and she was 
not only awake but refreshed. She did 
not get up with the headache, a furred 
tongue, or bad mouth; or more fatigued 
than she was when she lay down; and 
for these reasons. She had not set up 
till ten or twelve o'clock, nor eaten a 
heavy meat supper, and then retired to 
rest immediately afterwards. On the 
contrary, fatigued with her day's work, 
and more anxious to sleep than to eat, 
she had barely taken a few mouthfuls 
of parched corn or bread, and perhaps 
drank a little milk, or a cup of water, 
and then gone to bed. 

In this way it was, that when she 
awoke, she was ready to get up; and felt 
refreshed. She rose, thankful to God 
for preserving her through the night, 
and for giving her health and strength 
to begin another day. Then, after dress- 



THE MOABITESS. 71 

ing and washing, she attended to her 
devotional exercises. For I have already- 
told you that she had left off worship- 
ing idols, and now prayed several times 
a day, like the Jews, to the true God ; 
that God who is a spirit, and who is to 
be worshiped, " in spirit and in truth." 
All this was done by sunrise; and one 
thing more. I spoke of washing; but I 
meant simply the washing of the hands 
and face. The last thing she did before 
going down to help her mother get 
breakfast — at least I hope so — was to 
wash her whole body and limbs. For 
in the heat of summer, all persons, and 
especially those Who work out of doors, 
become dirty in the progress of the day; 
and health requires that they should 
wash them. If a warm bath can be 
readily obtained, it is well to wash be- 
fore going to bed. They ought, at the 
least, to take some soap suds, after be- 
ing up a little while in the morning, and 
wet a cloth in it, and rub themselves 
thoroughly; and then wipe themselves 
dry with a coarse, dry cloth. I do not 
8* 



72 STORY OF RUTH, 

say that Ruth did this; but if she did it, 
it must have promoted her health. Un- 
cleanliness is unhealthy; and if we do 
not perceive that it injures us at the 
time — when we are young", active, and 
strong — we shall suffer for it, and I am 
afraid severely, too, when we become 
older. 

About sunrise, or a little later, Ruth 
went down to help her mother get break- 
fast. This was no tedious task, for they 
did not take herb tea, or any other med- 
icinal drink with their food then. They 
had bread on hand, which Naomi had 
baked the day before. It did not take 
long to prepare a clean table, and set it 
out with two plates, two knives and 
forks, some cups, and a pitcher of 
water, a cake of bread, and a little milk 
or honey. Or, if they chose to parch 
some wheat or barley, and set it on, this 
would not take above fifteen or twenty 
minutes. 

By the time the sun had been an hour 
above the horizon, breakfast was finish- 
ed, and leaving her mother to wash the 



THE MOABITESS. 78 

dishes — for she chose to do it — Ruth 
had put on her apron, and was on the 
house top watching the barley field of 
Boaz, to see when the reapers came. 
When she saw them approaching* the 
field, she hastened down, took her bar- 
ley sack, and bidding her dear mother 
good morning, made the best of her way 
thither. She was on the spot, by the 
time the reapers had gone over half a 
dozen rods of ground, and before any of 
the other maidens that worked with 
her. Her example, however, had a good 
effect upon them, for they came earlier 
and earlier every morning, till at last, 
most of them came as early as Ruth did. 
" There comes the Moabitish woman 
again ;" the workmen used to say. "We 
wonder if she does not come away with- 
out her breakfast." And some of them, 
at first, said, that she probably wanted 
to be dependent on them for drink and 
refreshment. But they soon found their 
mistake on that point; for Ruth did not 
presume to taste of any thing which 
belonged to them, except the water of 



74 STORY OF RUTH, 

their drinking vessels, unless urged to 
do so by Boaz himself. 

Indeed, the reapers themselves soon 
learned to respect her, and to be almost 
afraid of her. If they were noisy, or 
boisterous, or rude at any time, and 
Ruth happened to come near, they were 
as silent as if their tongues had been 
tied. Not that she reproved them ; very 
far from that. But they knew by her 
e ye, by the blush that came upon her 
cheek, if any thing was wrong, and by 
her general appearance, that she was 
a worthy, modest, sensible woman; and 
they were careful what they said and 
did. And there are not many men or 
boys now-a-days, so rude as not to res- 
pect and esteem — I had almost said 
stand in awe of — a modest, sensible, 
virtuous female. There may possibly be 
a few such; but they are rather brutes 
in human shape, than real men. 

But she had much more influence over 
the young maidens than she had over 
the young men ; because she was more 
intimate with the latter. Before Ruth 



THE MOABITESS. 75 

came, many of them were idle; or they 
would sit much of their time in the shade; 
or talk with the reapers. But Ruth 
had not been with them more than six 
or eight days, before their whole habits 
were changed. They did not, indeed, 
work every minute of the day as hard 
as they could, and never say a word, 
not even among themselves. Oh no. 
Ruth did not do so. She worked very 
moderately ; but she kept busy, except 
in the heat of the day. Then it is true, 
she sometimes stopped to rest a few 
minutes under the shade trees that 
surrounded the field, and entered in- 
to cheerful and familiar conversation. 
When she was rested, she returned to 
her work. 

When the reapers stopped to dine, 
Ruth went home, immediately. The 
distance was not more than three quar- 
ters of a mile. The rest of the maidens 
carried their dinner — consisting of some 
cake and a little parched corn ; and 
Ruth, in this respect, soon learned to 
imitate them ; for she found it very fa- 



76 STORY OF RUTH, 

tiguing to walk a mile and a half, in the 
middle of the day, in the hot sun. 

To tell how Ruth spent the afternoon, 
would be little more than to repeat what 
I have already said. I might say, in gen- 
eral, however, both with regard to fore- 
noon and afternoon, that Ruth did not 
sit down on the damp ground, or drink 
large quantities of cold drink of any 
sort, when she was greatly heated. In 
fact, she never was greatly heated ; for 
she worked so moderately, and lived so 
temperately, and kept her mind in such 
a quiet state, that the heat did not affect 
her so much as it does a great many 
people who are less prudent and tem- 
perate. 

Ruth did not always stay in the field 
as long as the reapers ; for they some- 
times staid till almost or quite dark. 
She had two reasons for this. The first 
was, that she was always anxious to 
have some time for conversation with 
her mother in the evening. The second 
was, that she thought it would not be 



THE MOABITESS. 77 

proper or respectable, to stay in the field 
after the dusk of the evening came. 
Therefore she beat out or threshed her 
barley long before sunset, and having 
put it in her sack, and placed it on 
her shoulder, she found herself, by a 
little after sunset, at home with her 
mother. 

How was she employed during the 
evening ? I will tell you. After sup- 
per — not after tea, for they had no tea 
then, and their supper was a light one — 
they sat down and talked over the 
events of the day. Ruth told Naomi 
every thing she had seen and heard 
that was new or curious, which she did 
not understand, and Naomi explained 
every thing in her power. In short, it 
was like a little school ; only there was 
but one pupil, # and she was rather a 
large one. 

* Why are we not always pupils at school? 
Why may we not consider ourselves as receiv- 
ing lessons wherever we are, and whatever we 
hear, think, or see ? Bad lessons some of them 
may indeed be, but we may learn something, 



78 STORY OF RUTH, 

I need hardly tell you that Naomi and 
Ruth closed their conversation early. 
In the harvest season they had finished 
their devotions, and were in bed and 
asleep in a very little time after dark. 

In closing 1 this chapter, I ought to 
say, more distinctly than I have else- 
where done, that Ruth gained the affec- 
tion and esteem, not only of the maidens, 
but of the people of Bethlehem generally. 
For almost every body had heard of her, 
either by means of Naomi, or Boaz, or 
the reapers, or the gleaners ; and they 
were at first prejudiced against her be- 
cause she was a Moabite, just as we are 
sometimes prejudiced against people on 
account of their color, or name, or nation. 
Yet they soon forgot all that, and began 
to entertain the highest esteem for her. 
By the end of the barley harvest and 

even from them. If we do not keep on learn- 
ing, from every thing we hear or see, as long as 
we live, I greatly fear we have not the child-like 
spirit, and the fond desire to improve — to be- 
come wiser and better — which the good Ruth 
had. 



THE MOABITESS. 79 

wheat harvest, she had as many friends, 
almost, in Bethlehem, as she once had 
in the land of Moab ; and those who 
could hardly be called her friends, did 
not hesitate to speak well of her. 



CHAP. X. 

How Ruth spent the Sabbath. 

" And how did she spend it ?" you 
will perhaps say. This too, I am going 
to tell you. But I will tell you, in the 
first place, how she did not spend it. 

She did not sleep an hour or two 
later on the Sabbath morning than on 
any other morning during the week, in 
order " to while away" as many as she 
could of the tedious hours which God 
has commanded to be kept as holy as 
possible. 

She did not spend her Sabbaths in saun- 
tering about the roads or fields ; for the 

9 



80 STORY OF RUTH, 

customs of the Jews did not permit this; 
nor would the love she bore to her moth- 
er Naomi, who kept the Sabbath with 
great conscientiousness and exactness, 
have permitted her to do so. 

She did not take up as much time as 
possible in dressing and preparing to go 
to the place of worship. 

She did not contrive to devote twice 
as much time to cooking and preparing 
food on the Sabbath as on any other 
day, and to eat twice as much as on 
other days ; for besides unfitting her 
for religious worship, she knew it must 
be exceedingly offensive to God. 

She did not sleep away the day to 
get rid of it. 

She did not drag herself into the place 
of worship, half an hour too late, and 
when arrived there, sit in time of pray- 
er, or sleep in time of sermon. 

She did not appear late in the Sab- 
bath school, like many persons whom 
I could name ; but there was a reason 
for this ; they had no Sabbath schools, 
in those days. 



THE MOAEITESS. 81 

She did not comply with the invitation 
of any of her young friends, and get in- 
to a carriage, and drive pell-mell to Je- 
rusalem, or to some neighboring town, 
two or three hours before sunset, on 
a party of pleasure. Nor did she walk 
abroad a long time before sunset, " to 
see whatever could be seen." 

She did not spend the sacred hours 
in reading newspapers, magazines and 
novels, which on any other day she 
could not be prevailed onto touch ; — for 
the plain reason, if no other — that they 
had no such thing, in those days, to read. 

Now I will endeavor to tell you how 
she did spend the Sabbath. 

She asked Naomi to read to her from 
the Pentateuch — the five books of Mo- 
ses* — whenever she could spare the 
time ; and she used to stop her to ask 
her questions, whenever any thing was 
read she did not understand. 

She seemed anxious to devote as much 
time as possible to the improvement of 
her mind and heart. 

* This was all the Bible they had in the time 
of Ruth. 



82 STORY OF RUTH, 

When the hour was arrived for at- 
tending* the worship of the tabernacle, 
she got ready and went along in season, 
and attended to the business of the meet- 
ing" while she remained. 

She was willing to keep the day holy 
to the end of it. She believed that the 
Sabbath lasted a whole day and eve- 
ning ; and not that it began to become 
less and less sacred, as soon as public 
worship was over. 

Although there was no Sabbath school, 
where she could go and instruct others, 
she did not find it necessary to be whol- 
ly idle, on the Sabbath. There were 
ignorant boys and girls enough in Beth- 
lehem whom she might instruct. She 
could go where they lived, and talk with 
them, and tell them what they ought, 
and what they ought not to do ; or she 
could invite them to come and see her for 
the same purpose. 

She could visit the poor and the dis- 
tressed, and the fatherless, and the sick, 
on that day, and do them good ; even 
if she had nothing to give them but kind 
looks, and soft winning words. 



THE MOABITESS. 83 

She could do all this, and much more 
than all this. When there was nothing 
else to do — and sometimes when there 
was — she used to talk with her good 
mother, and learn more from her about 
God, and the way to keep his command- 
ments. 

The Sabbath evening, above all, was 
a most precious season to Ruth. For 
though the Jewish Sabbath was consid- 
ered over when it began to grow dark,* 
yet it was never over to Ruth until her 
senses were locked in sleep. It is very 
true that the Jews were exact about 
keeping holy time, so much so that a 
man who was found collecting some 
wood together, which he might no doubt 
have collected just as well the day be- 
fore, was stoned to death. But it is al- 
so true that this holy day can be kept 
strictly, without having it tedious. 

I am surprised to find that some chil- 

* Perhaps the reader already knows that the 
Jewish Sabbath began on what we call Friday 
evening, and ended on our Saturday, or the 
seventh day evening. 
9 * 



84 STORY OF RUTH, 

dren feel very miserable on the Sab- 
bath, unless they can be moving about 
and doing something perpetually. To 
sit down quietly in their own houses, 
and feel it a pleasure to do so, is a thing 
that many seem to regard as impossible. 
So long as they can be occupied in the 
family reading and prayers, in getting 
the Sabbath school lesson, dressing, 
going to the Sabbath school, then to 
church to hear the prayers and singing 
and sermon, going home to a highly 
seasoned dinner, attending Sabbath 
school and church again in the after- 
noon — so long, I say, as they can keep 
themselves, either in body or mind, in a 
sort of bustle, on the Sabbath, they feel 
very comfortably. But when all this is 
over, and the supper is eaten, and the 
approaching evening calls them to med- 
itation on the exercises, &c, of the day, 
they appear very miserable. If there 
is an evening meeting, they attend that, 
to relieve, in part, the dulness and te- 
diousness of the hours ; but if not, they 
are very apt either to go to reading or 



THE MOABITESS. 85 

thinking* or conversing on subjects whol- 
ly improper for the time, or else feel them- 
selves shut up in prison, and pass away 
the gloomy season as they can. And 
some get so tired of the Sabbath, that 
they actually dread its approach. 

Now I doubt whether the Jewish 
children, generally, considered the Sab- 
bath a tedious day, strictly as it was 
kept by them. How must they have 
been delighted — and Ruth among the 
rest, old as she now was — to sit down 
when the religious exercises were fin- 
ished, and ask what such a thing was for, 
and what such or such a thing meant. 
This would lead to other inquiries about 
Adam and Eve, and Abel and Cain: 
about Noah and the flood, and about 
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebec- 
ca, Joseph, Moses, Miriam, and many 
others. Then, again, she would ask 
Naomi, and the latter would tell her the 
wonderful history of Joseph and Moses ; 
what they did in Egypt ; what sort of 
a co mtry Egypt was ; and how Moses 
led the Israelites out of it, through the 



86 STORY OF RUTH, 

wilderness ; and a thousand things 
which every child, now-a-days, delights 
to hear over and over, almost a hun- 
dred times, and which were as interest- 
ing to Ruth then as to young children 
now. 

Do any of my readers suppose that 
the Sabbath ever became tiresome to 
Ruth ? Must it not have been, on the 
contrary, the most pleasant season in 
the whole week ? Must she not have 
looked forward to it with great satis- 
faction ? 

Let us think of Bethlehem, in the 
days of Ruth and Naomi, and the still and 
quiet evening of the Sabbath. The ser- 
vices of the sanctuary are over ; the sun 
is fast descending towards the western 
sea ; the people have taken a frugal 
meal of parched corn, or some other 
simple food, and are now engaged in 
giving to their families and servants, 
religious instruction. There, on the top 
of that neat little cottage, under the 
shade of an awning, sit Ruth and Nao- 
mi. The latter has in her hand the 



THE MOABITESS. 87 

books of Moses, from which, as she un- 
rols them, she reads to Ruth, pausing 
to answer her questions, or explain any- 
thing" which may seem difficult. Yon- 
der, in the open court, sheltered in like 
manner from the sun's oblique but still 
piercing rays, sit a larger family, listen- 
ing with most profound attention to what 
that aged sire, with venerable beard, is 
saying about the history of their ancient 
nation, and of God's dealings with it. 
While, within a still larger number of 
dwellings, where no stranger eye can 
penetrate, and none can witness their 
devotions but God himself, the master of 
the household is reading from the holy 
books to those around him, calling upon 
the name of his God in language so 
plain and simple, that every child can 
understand, and take an interest in the 
petitions; or singing, or chanting his 
praises. 

How would one of our modern cities, 
in these better days, as we are accustom- 
ed to regard them, compare on the Sab- 
bath, an hour before sunset, with the 



88 STORY OF RUTH, 

ancient Bethlehem, in the days of Ruth 
and Naomi ? Was the quiet scene of 
instruction of which I have been speak- 
ing, whether on the house top, in the 
court, or in the interior of the dwel- 
lings, interrupted by gay horsemen and 
coaches driving — perhaps running — 
through the streets ? Were hundreds 
or thousands of boys and girls col- 
lecting on the common — if they had 
one — to u while away" the time ? 
Were there parties collecting at various 
houses in the city to join in amusing — 
rather trifling — conversation, as if to 
efface every serious impression made 
by the Sabbath? Were the young gen- 
tlemen visiting the young ladies, and 
the young ladies receiving the calls of 
the young gentlemen, and spending the 
evening to a late hour in idle or noisy 
mirth in their society ? And were the 
houses for refreshment, the confection- 
aries and the places of public amuse- 
ment, whose doors, if shut at all during 
the day, had been only closed for form's 
sake ; — were these, I say, thrown open 



THE MOABITESS. 89 

at dark, or still earlier, for the reception 
of the gluttonous, the intemperate, the 
licentious, and the profane ? Or were 
they happiest around their fireside with- 
in their own family circles, engaged in 
the way already described, prepared to 
go to rest in good season, in peace, and 
to rise in due season the next morning ? 
I am sure that Ruth the Moabi- 
tess neither gave nor received visits on 
Sabbath evening, and that had Naomi 
permitted it, she would have had no wish 
to do so. She was fond of amusement, 
no doubt, at the proper season ; but who, 
that has common sense or common dis- 
cretion, would wish to drown every good 
impression that the Sabbath has made, 
by light, amusing or trifling conversation? 
Young people, indeed, require action and 
motion in the air, a great deal of it ; — 
it is for their health ; — but they require 
also — and they are usually fond of it, 
if it is well conducted— much moral and 
religious instruction ; and they ought to 
be willing to lay aside their plays, and 
all thought about them, for one day in 



90 STORY OF RUTH, 

a week; and be contented with the 
holy amusements of the church and Sab- 
bath school, and the family circle of in- 
struction. It is a great mistake to keep 
children shut up on the Sabbath and 
not afford them interesting books, cheer- 
ful conversation, or good and pleasant 
instruction; but it is a mistake quite as 
serious for them to run at large, after 
church is over, and forget all that the 
preacher or the Sabbath school teacher 
has said ; and set a bad example to 
others. 

No ; home is the best place for chil- 
dren — and grown persons too,— on the 
Sabbath evening. There is always 
enough to do there, if parents have the 
spirit of Naomi, and children that of 
Ruth ; and of pleasant occupation, too. 
And if Ruth was not too old, or too wise, 
to attend to instruction at that season, 
instead of gadding abroad, which of my 
readers is ? 



THE MOABITESS. 91 

CHAP. XI. 

A Dialogue. 

We have seen, in the preceding chap- 
ter, what an excellent character Ruth 
bore, and how soon after she arrived 
in Bethlehem she gained many friends 
and a good reputation. All this was the 
more striking, from the fact that she 
came from a country where the women, 
as it was well known to the Jews, were 
not generally respectable. When per- 
sons from such a country prove to be 
truly virtuous and excellent, every body 
prizes them so much the higher for it; 
and it ought to be so. It is no hard 
matter at all to be good and virtuous, 
where goodness and virtue are in fash- 
ion; but where vice is all the fashion, 
and a person is educated in the midst of 
it, and yet comes out pure and excellent, 
it is certainly very much to her praise. 
Thus it was with Ruth, the subject of 
our narrative. 

It was well that she did so soon estab- 
lish her claims as a modest, sensible, 
10 



92 STORY OP RUTH, 

excellent woman; for it was not long* 
after, that a circumstance took place, 
which, had not her reputation been so 
firmly established that it was scarcely- 
possible to shake it, might have had an 
injurious effect on her. But before I 
relate the circumstance, some further 
explanation and remark may be neces- 
sary. 

It has already been mentioned, that if 
a husband among the Israelites died, it 
was considered the duty of his brother 
to marry his widow; or if he had no 
brethren, then it was the duty of the 
next male relation. It seems to have 
been considered rather disreputable for 
young widows, like Ruth, to remain sin- 
gle. Or if not, perhaps there was some- 
thing peculiar in Ruth's case, as what 
will presently follow seems to indicate. 

Among the other kindnesses which 
Naomi was constantly showing to Ruth, 
she began to entertain thoughts of set- 
tling her again in life, by marriage. 
Not so much because she was poor, and 
unwilling to maintain Ruth; for the 



THE MOABITESS. 93 

advantage, as it seems to me, was all 
the other way: Ruth' supported Naomi. 
No; it was out of pure kindness to her, 
or regard to her own happiness, and a 
wish to have her comply with the laws 
of God, and the Jewish customs. Some 
people, had they been in the place of 
Naomi, would have only thought how 
honorable to Ruth it would be to mar- 
ry Boaz. Others, again, would have 
thought of his wealth, and how Ruth, 
by marrying him, would procure a home, 
which neither she nor Naomi now had. 
Others, still, will say that Naomi, hav- 
ing reason to believe that if the plan she 
was agitating should succeed, it would, 
in the end, be the means of furnishing 
herself with a permanent home, as well 
as Ruth, was not a little selfish. I do 
not see any evidence, however, that 
she was selfish at all in this matter, or 
that she even so much as thought of 
herself; though it is of course impossi- 
ble to tell with certainty what passed in 
her mind. 

All this provision and forethought 



94 STORY OF RUTH, 

about the future, I mean so far as the 
welfare of Ruth was concerned, was 
perfectly right and commendable. No 
wise parent would indeed ever advise 
a daughter to marry a rich man solely 
because he was rich; for this would be 
decidedly wrong. But if the character 
of the individual is what it should be in 
every other respect, riches in addition 
are no objection, but rather an advan- 
tage. And I do not think it would have 
been at all improper for Naomi, who 
knew that Boaz was not only wealthy, 
but liberal, and charitable, and excellent, 
to have taken every circumstance into 
consideration. Had he been a miser, 
the case would have been altered most 
materially. 

The grand reason, as I have already 
intimated, why people ought, as a gen- 
eral rule, to marry, is because God has 
made it our duty. He has said in his 
Word, that "it is not good for man to be 
alone;" and has accordingly so ordered 
things, that the same or nearly the same 
number of females as of males are 
born in every country. Does not this 



THE MOABITESS. 95 

show very plainly both the impropriety 
of having more than one wife (polyga- 
my) and of celibacy ? 

But God has not left us without an 
indication of our duty, on this subject. 
He has laid a foundation in our very 
natures, for an attachment to each 
other from early youth, and sometimes 
even from infancy. This may often 
be seen in the choice which children 
make of toys. A gentleman who kept 
and sold sugar toys for many years, and 
in whom I place entire confidence, had, 
among other things, figures of girls and 
boys, and he assures me that little boys, 
almost without exception, preferred the 
sugar girls, and little girls the sugar 
boys. I do not say that this proves any 
thing; but I believe it to be a fact; and 
if so, it is a curious one. And whether 
it is a fact or not, it is certainly true 
that it is natural for us to form attach- 
ments very early; and that God, when 
he made us, meant to have it so. All 
he asks of us is, that these attachments 
should be formed and conducted accord- 
10 * 



96 STORY OF RUTH, 

ing to the principles which are laid 
down in the Bible. 

And here it is easy to suppose, that 
when Naomi first began to talk to Ruth 
on the subject of a second marriage, 
conversation not unlike the following, 
in its spirit, took place between them. 
Naomi. Do you never think, my 
daughter, of a second marriage? 

Ruth. Yes; I have sometimes thought 
of the subject, when others have first 
suggested it to me; but not often. 

JV. But do you not think marriage a 
duty? 

R. I have been taught to regard it 
as entirely a matter of choice and inclin- 
ation. If two persons happen to be 
mutually attached to each other, and 
there are no serious obstacles in the 
way of a union, I have supposed it might 
be well enough to marry. 

JV. A mutual attachment ought to 
exist, most undoubtedly. Still, we, the 
Jewish nation, view the matter as a 
duty to God. We believe that the com- 
mand in the twenty-eighth verse of the 



THE MOABITESS. 91 

first chapter of Genesis, means just what 
it says; and that if parents do not exert 
themselves to have their children, in 
their turn, become also the heads of 
families, they not only neglect to do 
every thing they can to promote the 
glory of God, but actually commit a 
heinous crime. We have, indeed, no 
name for it, but it is really a crime; at 
least, we have always believed it to be 
so. We often engage our daughters 
while they are yet very young; but after 
they are twenty years of age, no father 
is held guiltless, if he neglects to do all 
in his power to provide them with suit- 
able companions. And now, that you 
have no other parent or guardian but 
myself, it becomes my duty to converse 
with you on this subject, and thus, for 
the time, take the place of a father. 

R. I am much obliged to you, my 
dear mother, for all your kindness, and 
for the deep interest you take in my wel- 
fare; but you seem to forget that I have 
been once married. 

JV*. By no means. But this does not 



98 STORY OP RUTH, 

materially alter the case. You know 
that neither of my sons, Mahlon or 
Chilion, left any family; and as Boaz, 
our only kinsman, has no children, our 
family name is likely to become extinct. 
Now such an event would be a calamity 
as well as a reproach to us; and it be- 
comes my duty, as a parent, to do all 
in my power to prevent it. 

But to dissuade you from overlooking 
this great duty to God, I have other 
considerations to present to you. 

Every young person needs care, and 
guidance, and counsel. For this pur- 
pose, God has provided us with parents. 

But as we grow up to mature years, 
these guides may be taken away from us 
by death, or otherwise; or if they live, 
we may remove from them. Or if we 
remain together under the same roof, 
they cease to have the same influence 
over us that they had while we were 
young. They expect us, the older chil- 
dren, to govern, and direct, and restrain 
ourselves, at least in some measure. 
And it happens, usually, that we are 
quite as willing to do this as they are 



THE MOABITESS. 99 

willing to have us; nay, much more 
so. Many young persons, indeed, of 
both sexes, especially boys, rejoice to 
get away from parental restraint; for 
authority becomes irksome to them. 
Yet, strange as the fact may seem, at 
this very period of life, when parents 
and masters think it necessary to leave 
us to act for ourselves, and when we 
the children are often so glad to get rid 
of all authority, and become our own 
masters and teachers; this very period 
is that in which, above all, we need 
direction, advice and restraint. 

R. I can hardly view the matter in 
this light, my dear mother. Would it 
not be to charge the Creator with imper- 
fection in his arrangements for our hap- 
piness ? For certainly it must be a part 
of his plan that parents and children, as 
the latter grow older, should be less 
closely connected or bound together. 

JV. I will remove the difficulty which 
you feel, in a moment. I was going on 
to say, that at this very period — the 
stormy period of life, as it is often called; 



100 STORY OF RUTH, 

when others cease to restrain us as for- 
merly, and our passions, some of them 
new and powerful, are strong, and 
unless duly curbed, almost irresistible; 
just at this very period of life, there 
arises, usually, if it ever arise, that soft 
and tender attachment to the other sex, 
which, if directed to an individual of 
great worth, has an immense influence 
over us; not merely when the object of 
our attachment is before us, but when 
islands and seas have separated us. 
The sea-faring man, even in Tarshish, 
or the other distant ports of the great 
western sea, when tempted to impro- 
prieties of conduct, remembers the ob- 
ject of his affection at home, and if 
the fear of God has no place in his 
bosom, a regard to her often has. He 
says to himself; " What would she think 
of me, if she were present, and saw me 
yielding to this temptation?" — and with 
this thought, he turns asidehis feet from 
the slippery paths he was about to enter. 
And the thought of what our absent 
friends would think of tis, has scarcely 



THE MOABITESS. 101 

less influence on the conduct of our own 
sex, in similar circumstances. 

Here, then, comes in something to 
take the place of parental care; and it 
comes precisely at the period, too (say- 
between the ages of fifteen and twenty), 
when it is most needed. It is a restraint 
which, being continued for several 
years, till we are of a proper age to 
marry, saves many a young person's 
character from being shipwrecked. You 
see, therefore, in this arrangement, a 
new proof of the goodness of God, in- 
stead of an impeachment of that good- 
ness. 

R. I do, indeed; and with a clear- 
ness with which I never saw it before. 
Still, I do not see how your remarks 
can be made to apply to my case. They 
seem intended for those who are 
younger, and have never been married. 

JV. Then hear me a little longer, my 
daughter. If our affection is genuine, 
and we do not mistake each other's 
character, this influence is not only con- 
tinued through many long years before 



102 STORY OF RUTH, 

marriage, but also after that period. 
We still "need somebody to restrain us; 
for we are still liable, in one way or 
another, to fall into mistakes and errors, 
and even into gross sins. 

But I had forgotten one thing. While 
forming an acquaintance, and learning 
each other's characters, during the years 
that precede marriage, we may do much 
for each other in the way of direct 
advice, counsel and caution. This is 
the more needed in proportion as our 
parents have ceased to afford it. It 
may moreover, be done far better in this 
way than parents could do it. As we 
cannot see our own defects so well as 
others, so it often happens that parents 
are blind to defects in their children — 
their second selves. But an intimate 
friend, of the other sex, will discover all 
these things which the parent either 
overlooks, or cannot see; and if a true 
friend, will labor to correct them. 

Now this restraint, and these efforts 
at correction, will both be needed after 
marriage; nay, they will be needed 



THE MOABITESS. 103 

more or less through life. We shall 
always have defects in manners or con- 
duct that will need correction, as long 
as we live. And happy are they whose 
companions of the other sex are able 
and willing to correct them. You see, 
therefore, my daughter, the importance 
of a husband. You know, from experi- 
ence, that what I have said of his influ- 
ence at setting out in life is true; now 
the object which I principally aim at, at 
present, is, to convince you that the 
same advantages which you derived 
from being associated a few years with 
my son, are still desirable to you during 
the remainder of your life. 

R. Surely you do not mean to say 
that I need the advice, and counsel, and 
aid, of which you speak, as much as I 
did when I first became acquainted with 
Mahlon! 

N. By no means. On the contrary, 
your character has been greatly im- 
proved by living with him only a few 
years. But it still needs — as is the case 
with every one — improvement; and will 
11 



104 STORY OP RUTH, 

need it as long as you live. It is a sad 
mistake of the young, to think that their 
minds and souls come to perfection as 
early as their bodies, and cannot grow 
better any longer than those. The 
mind and heart should grow better 
through life; and marriage is the best 
school in the world in which to accom- 
plish this purpose. 

R. But I have your society and ex- 
cellent counsel, my dear mother; will 
not this be sufficient? 

N. You will be welcome, as you 
have hitherto been, to the little I can 
do for you. But remember I shall not 
last always. The infirmities of age, 
hastened by severe trials, are already 
creeping fast upon me; and I must, at 
best, soon go down to the grave. Ad- 
ditional counsel and support, especially 
in a land of strangers, would be valua- 
ble to you, even while I am alive and 
able to assist you. But what will you 
do when I am gone? — I do not ask what 
you will do for food, and raiment, and 
shelter; for our God, who is good, and 



THE MOABITESS. 105 

who has favorably disposed the hearts 
of the people of Bethlehem towards you, 
and who, in fact, never forsakes them 
that do not first forsake him, will provide 
for you in this respect. Still, the means 
of subsistence for the future, is a mat- 
ter worth your consideration; as it is not 
pleasant tc be wholly dependent on 
others. But to what bosom friend will 
you go, after I am laid low in the grave, 
to communicate your sorrows and your 
joys; and to seek counsel and sympathy? 
R. There is certainly weight in what 
you say, my dear mother; and though 
I value your society at present more 
than any other, I will submit the mat- 
ter to you. I will not wholly turn a 
deaf ear to any thing which you may 
propose; relying, as I do, on your kind- 
ness, as well as goodness of heart; and 
firmly believing that you will advise me 
to no measures which are not worthy 
of my consideration, and in accordance 
with the customs and usages of this my 
adopted country. 






106 STORY OF RUTH, 

CHAP. XII. 

JVaomi's Advice. 
The nearest relative to Ruth's former 
husband that Naomi knew, seems to 
have been Boaz, in whose fields she 
had labored during harvest. He was 
a very worthy man, though now rather 
old. Whether he had ever been mar- 
ried or not, the Scripture does not say ; 
but if he had, he must have lost his 
wife ; and it does not appear, as we 
have already seen, that he had any sons 
or daughters. If he had ever thought 
of proposing to marry Ruth, it is most 
likely there were so many difficulties in 
the way, that it seemed to him almost, 
if not quite, impracticable. Perhaps 
her poverty was one of the difficulties. 
Another might have been her origin — 
in the land of Moab. Another still might 
have been the great difference of their 
age.* Naomi, however, seemed bent 

* A still stronger reason, perhaps, for his 
making no proposals was, that there was anoth- 
er friend more nearly related. 



THE MOABITESS. 107 

upon effecting an alliance. She appear- 
ed to regard Ruth as having a claim 
upon Boaz. So she consulted with her 
on the subject, and proposed that she 
should solicit his hand. 

Ruth, who knew, as I have already- 
said, very little of the customs and usa- 
ges of the country she was in, and had 
perfect confidence in her mother, hear- 
kened to her suggestions, and conclud- 
ed to follow her advice. She would 
not, it is true, have ever proposed such 
a plan herself, or perhaps ever thought 
of it ; but now that her mother propos- 
ed it, and gave so many weighty reasons 
in favor of it, she was willing to hearken 
to what she supposed to be alike her 
duty to God, to her mother-in-law, and 
to herself. 

Boaz, it seems, was at this time win- 
nowing his barley in the field where it 
grew, as was the custom of the country. 
He had a temporary threshing floor 
erected for the purpose ; and was pro- 
vided with all necessary entertainments 
for himself and his workmen ; as well 
11* 



108 STORY OF RUTH, 

as conveniences for lodging there. It 
appears, moreover, that he used some- 
times to lodge there himself; and that 
Naomi knew it. 

Her proposal to Ruth was as follows: 
"Wash thyself, and anoint thee, and 
put thy raiment upon thee, and get thee 
down to the floor ; but make not thyself 
known unto the man, until he shall 
have done eating and drinking. And it 
shall be, when he lieth down, that thou 
shalt mark the place where he shall 
lie, and thou shalt go in and uncover 
his feet, and lay thee down ; and he 
will tell thee what thou shalt do." 

Here is no direction that she should 
ask Boaz, in so many words, to become 
her husband ; but it is plainly implied.; 
and from the manner in which Ruth 
performed the errand, there can be no 
doubt that it was a part of Naomi's 
directions. 

I might stop here to speak of the 
customs which prevailed among the 
Jews at this time, as made known in 
these very directions of Naomi. I might 



THE MOABITESS. 109 

speak of the high value which they put 
upon frequent washing and changing 
their raiment — things of the greatest 
importance to health now-a-days, and 
in the United States, as well as among 
the Israelites of three or four thousand 
years ago. Their practice of anointing 
themselves, too, I might speak of; but 
I do not think this a practice worth im- 
itating. I might also speak of their 
beds, which were much more simple, 
though not less conducive to health, 
than ours ; and of the early hour at 
which they retired to rest. Lastly, I 
might, in passing, inquire whether the 
Israelites, at that time, ever wore masks. 
For though I have never heard that 
they did, how did Ruth contrive to be 
present at the threshing floor, at supper 
time, without being known by Boaz ? 

The truth, however, probably is, that 
by making herself known, is meant 
making her errand known. So Henry 
thinks in his Commentary ; and such 
seems to me the most easy explanation 
of the matter. It is not easy to believe 



110 STORY OF RUTH, 

that she could have been present at 
any part of the feast, without being 
known to the reapers and to Boaz. But 
she could easily avoid making known 
her errand till the appropriate time. 
But I will not break in upon my story 
longer, to attend, now, to these less im- 
portant circumstances. 

The customs of countries differ so 
much — and, indeed, the customs of the 
same country at different periods of its 
history — that it is next to impossible to 
say what things are or are not improp- 
er, in all situations, and under all cir- 
cumstances. We should think, at first 
view, that though there might not be 
any thing improper in Ruth's claiming 
Boaz for a husband, and in doing so at 
the threshing floor, instead of his own 
house, yet the manner was very strange. 
The answer, however, of Ruth to her 
mother; u All that thou say est unto 
me I will do," sets the matter at rest, 
so far as Ruth was concerned ; for she 
would never have assented to any thing 
which she knew had the slightest ap- 



THE MOABITESS. Ill 

pearance of evil. The only fault I am 
inclined to find is with Naomi. But her 
anxiety on behalf of Ruth was so great, 
and she had such entire confidence 
both in her and Boaz, and so different 
were things then, from what we find 
them now, that I am, on the whole, sat- 
isfied she, too, intended well. And as she 
thought no evil, so no evil happened, 
except in appearance ; and her confi- 
dence in the good character of both 
Ruth and Boaz proved to be well 
founded. 



CHAP. XIII. 

Ruth's Visit to Boaz. 
Ruth, having made every proper 
preparation for her singular, yet well- 
meant visit, immediately proceeded to 
the threshing floor of Boaz, in the fields 
near Bethlehem. She needed no per- 
son to direct her to the place— for she 



112 STORY OF RUTH, 

had gleaned in the fields too often, not 
to know the way. 

It appears to have been customary 
among the Jews then, to have a sort of 
feast when they had finished winnowing 
their grain, to which the reapers and 
perhaps the gleaners were invited. Some 
are quite of the opinion that, on this oc- 
casion, Ruth was invited among the 
rest. They had feasts, also, on other 
occasions, as at sheep shearing. 

Boaz having finished his winnowing 
at his threshing floor, and prepared his 
entertainment, sat down himself with 
his workmen. He must have been, I 
think, a good farmer ; — he certainly 
acted like one. He was often present 
with his laborers while they were win- 
nowing his grain ; not that he was 
afraid he should lose any of it by their 
fraud, perhaps ; but to prevent careless- 
ness and waste. Laborers or servants 
who are perfectly honest, may not al- 
ways be profitable to their employers 
and masters. Many are thoughtless 
and heedless, and some are imprudent. 



THE MOABITESS. 113 

Another object Boaz might have had 
in view, by being so much in the fields 
with his men, viz., to gain their affec- 
tion and good will ; perhaps to give 
them good instruction. 

There is too much distance kept up 
between the rich and the poor. The 
latter, from their ignorance of the ac- 
tual condition of the former, suppose 
that their enjoyments are as much 
greater than their own as their property 
is larger ; and hence they are inclined 
both to envy them, and to covet their 
wealth. No mistake can be greater 
than this, and no consequences more 
deplorable. And the consequences to 
which I refer, are becoming worse and 
worse, every day. 

Happy would it be for both parties, 
and for the world generally, if this mis- 
take could be rectified ; and if the poor 
could understand that the rich, with all 
their property, have much less of actu- 
al enjoyment than themselves. One 
thing which would do much towards 
enlightening them on this subject, would 



114 STORY OF RUTH, 

be for them to invite each other to their 
tables respectively ; and encourage and 
maintain more freedom of intercourse. 

This object, among many others, might 
be in part accomplished by the sacra- 
ment of the Lord's Supper, in churches, 
as it is usually administered and receiv- 
ed; though I am extremely sorry to say 
that distinctions do creep in, even here. 
It should not be so. All who partake 
of the privileges of this blessed ordi- 
nance, ought to feel that they are en- 
tirely on a level ; — are all servants ; — 
and servants to the same master, even 
Christ. The time will come, I think, 
when this ordinance will have among 
others, this happy effect 4 — an effect 
which He who instituted it most un- 
doubtedly intended. 

We have already seen that Boaz, 
mighty and wealthy as he was, was fa- 
miliar with his servants and workmen, 
and that he ate and drank with them. 
Some suppose that the Scripture lan- 
guage that he ate and drank at the feast 
which he gave on the present occasion, 



THE MOAEITESS. 115 

and that his heart was merry, implies 
that he drank some stimulating liquor 
or other, and was slightly intoxicated ; 
but I do not think so. It only means 
that he ate and drank till he was re- 
freshed — felt well — which is the proper 
way to eat ; and in general the only 
proper way. We are not told that he 
ate and drank till he made himself like 
a beast, or was sick ; nor do I believe 
that he did. It is even said in the 
Chaldee paraphrase, that he did not go 
to bed without prayer: "He blessed 
the name of the Lord who had heard 
his prayers, and taken away the famine 
from the land of Israel." 

Boaz's bed or couch was at the end 
of the pile of grain of which they had 
just completed the winnowing. Dis- 
tinguished and wealthy as he was, he 
could not only partake of an entertain- 
ment at the threshing floor with his 
workmen, but also lodge there. He re- 
tired to rest very early, as was his 
practice. 

When he was fast asleep, Ruth, at- 
12 



116 STORY OF RUTH, 

tentive to her mother's orders, went 
softly to the place, and lay down at his 
feet. She took the place of a suppliant 
—one who had favor to ask of a supe- 
rior — and not the place of an intimate 
friend. In those days, people were ac- 
customed to bow down at the feet of 
those whom they deemed greater or 
more honorable than themselves, or of 
whom they are about to ask alms or 
favors. Thus Ruth, in a modest, hum- 
ble manner, laid herself at the feet of 
Boaz. 

Boaz, having had one good nap — for, 
as I said before, he went to bed early 
— awoke late in the evening, and, to his 
great surprise, found that somebody lay 
across at his feet. He immediately 
asked who was there. Ruth answered, 
and told him her name ; and explained, 
with the utmost simplicity and plain- 
ness, her object in coming there. She 
seemed to say, Thou art he that has a 
right, according to the Jewish law, to 
redeem a poor, scattered, but respecta- 
ble family, as well as an estate from 



THE MOABITESS. 1 17 

perishing ; and I have come to solicit 
thee to do so. Let, therefore, thy care 
be over me, and graciously interest 
thyself in our behalf, and espouse me 
and my cause. 

Boaz knew the character of Ruth, 
and the justice and reasonableness of 
her claim too well, to find any fault, 
either with that, or her manner of pre- 
ferring it. He treated her with all the 
attention, and respect, and kindness 
that he would have done a daughter ; 
for, as he had usually done, he called 
her his " daughter," and invoked a 
blessing on her from the Lord. He said, 
" Blessed be thou of the Lord, my 
daughter ; for thou hast showed more 
kindness in the latter end than at the 
beginning ; inasmuch as thou follow- 
edst not young men, whether poor or 
rich." 

He seems to have supposed — so it 
appears to some — that she might have 
been solicitous to gain his favor and 
affection from the very first of her com- 
ing into his fields and following his 



118 STORY OF RUTH, 

reapers ; though, for my own part, I do 
not think it was the case. Probably 
perseverance in her suit, thus manifest- 
ed, had no little influence over his 
mind, and was one cause of his deciding 
the matter as he did. 

Who could avoid being interested in 
such a person ? She had left her native 
land, and all her friends and acquaint- 
ances, with whom she was born and 
educated ; and for the love she bore 
to her mother-in-law, and to the God 
whom the latter worshiped, had gone 
to Spend her days with her in a 
strange land ; and not to live with her 
family exactly, but rather to take her 
under her own care, and support and 
comfort her in the evening of her days. 
It is true, she was not so far from her 
native land but that she might have 
thought of returning. But that she did 
not, appears most clearly from her so- 
liciting the hand of Boaz in marriage. 
And it adds not a little to the great 
weight of evidence in favor of her ex- 
cellent character, that, as Boaz remark- 



THE MOABITESS. 119 

ed, she sought not the society and the 
hand of a young man ; for youthful, 
and beautiful, and reputable, and be- 
coming so generally known as she was 
at Bethlehem, she could not but have 
succeeded in such an attempt- — but in 
accordance with the wishes of her moth- 
er, and out of respect to the family and 
the law of God, she chose to marry a 
man much older than herself, and as 
some would undoubtedly say, neither a 
proper nor a suitable companion. Not 
that she was wholly without affection 
for him ; for though respect to her moth- 
er and the law of God were very strong 
motives with her, it seems most likely 
that his excellence of conduct and 
character had made an impression in 
his favor upon her heart. 

Boaz assured Ruth that he entirely 
approved of the course she had taken, 
and begged her to let her mind be at 
rest upon the subject. It was true, he 
said, that there was a nearer relation 
of the family than he — a fact which 
neither Naomi nor Ruth appears to have 
12* 



120 STORY OF RUTH, 

known — but that if this other relation 
should refuse to perform the duty of 
redeeming the property and marrying 
her, he would do it. He not only stat- 
ed all this to her very explicitly, but as 
was the custom of his nation, confirmed 
it with an oath. "As the Lord liveth," 
said he, "I will do as I have promised." 
He then requested her to compose her- 
self, and rest again, at his feet, until 
morning. 

There is one thing more to be no- 
ticed in this place. Boaz was truly a 
polite man. He would not send her 
away in the night, nor would he so 
much as disturb or agitate her mind 
with any doubts whether her conduct 
would appear well or not. He simply 
did all he could to put her mind at ease 
in regard to the future. Instead of 
leaving her to suppose, or perhaps to 
fear, that she might be obliged to go in 
person to the other relative, and make 
her claim on him, as she had done on 
Boaz, he left the impression on her 
mind, no doubt, that he would attend 



THE MOABITESS. 121 

to the matter himself. I judge that 
this was the fact, both from his words 
and from his general character. 

Early in the morning, before it was 
light enough to distinguish one person 
from another, Ruth rose, and prepared 
to return. She would probably have 
returned the evening before, as soon as 
she had finished her errand, but for two 
reasons. She did not wish to be seen 
walking abroad so late in the evening; 
and, besides, Boaz had insisted on her 
staying. But now that day was dawn- 
ing, it was time for her to go. 

Before she went, Boaz prepared a 
present for her mother. It consisted of 
six measures of barley ; but how much 
this was, precisely, cannot now be as- 
certained. * She carried it home in her 
mantle or apron — the Bible says vail ; 
but the meaning is as I have represent- 
ed — and it was probably as much as 
she could conveniently carry. It is 

* Some suppose it was six omers, which 
would have been something more than a half 
bushel. 



122 STORY OF RUTH, 

said that Boaz laid it on her ; but we 
are not told whether she carried the 
parcel on her head or her shoulders. 



CHAP. XIV. 

Ruth's Return to her Mother. 

While it was yet early in the morn- 
ing, Ruth returned to the city to her 
mother; but not till Boaz had enjoined 
it on her to keep the interview a pro- 
found secret. Not that any thing had 
occurred which he was unwilling should 
be known ; but there are, in every com- 
munity, persons who will not wait to 
know the whole history of an affair, but 
if any thing appears uncommon or 
strange, especially if it seems to be 
against the reputation of a neighbor or 
a fellow-citizen, will go and report it, as 
soon as they get wind of it, and as they 
relate only one part of it, perhaps make 
difficulty. By Ruth's going home early, 



THE MOABITESS. 123 

and avoiding observation, this evil 
would probably be prevented. 

It is indeed true, that we should avoid 
even the appearance of evil; and as I 
have said before, I cannot entirely acquit 
Naomi of being imprudent in this mat- 
ter; though Ruth, in every thing she 
did, conducted with discretion. But I 
think Naomi must have suffered the 
punishment of her imprudence; and I 
will tell you how. 

There is nothing said which would 
lead us to believe that Naomi expected 
Ruth would stay all night. For any 
thing which appears, she might have 
expected her at home, by ten o'clock. 
As she did not arrive, what must have 
been her feelings? What her conflict 
between hope and fear ? 

I have known a parent rendered 
almost distracted by his son's staying 
from home all night, when he did not 
expect it. This young man, whose 
name was William, went to an adjoining 
town with one of his companions, on a 
certain day, to visit some friends. They 






! 



124 STORY OF RUTH, 

set out early in the morning, and though 
they might not have been told to return 
that night, in so many words, yet this 
was the father's expectation; and Wil- 
liam knew it. 

As it drew near evening, William pre- 
pared to return. His companion was 
ready, but the friends immediately be- 
gan to press them to remain till morn- 
ing. William refused stoutly, but the 
other consented. At last the entrea- 
ties of the company prevailed, and Wil- 
liam concluded to stay too. 

It was early in the spring, when floods 
were frequent, and the road by which 
they came, lay, for several miles, by 
the side of a river which was known to 
be quite subject to inundations. When 
the usual hour for retiring to rest arri- 
ved, William's father, who had before 
begun to be uneasy, now became great- 
ly distressed. He sat up and walked 
the room for a long time; and when he 
lay down, he could not sleep. His son 
— his dear son — he fancied must be 
drowned in the river; and if at any mo- 



THE MOABITESS. 125 

, ment sleep began to steal upon his sen- 
ses, he was immediately aroused to a 
sense of his misery, by imagining the 
struggles and cries of his drowning son! 
The son, however, returned the next 
day in safety. 

I have related this story to show, 
feebly — for the whole cannot be known 
except to those who have felt the 
anguish themselves — how much our 
parents sometimes undergo on our be- 
half; and how much Naomi might have 
undergone in the absence of Ruth. I 
do not think she slept much. How 
could she, under such circumstances? 
Not that life was at stake, or property. 
Oh no. But reputation is dearer than 
life, and virtue than property. 

The injunction of Boaz, that the 
whole matter should be kept a secret, 
must, it seems to me, have set Ruth 
also to thinking. For though one prin- 
cipal reason for this injunction may have 
been the fear that a false report might 
produce unjust and incorrect impres- 
sions on the mind of the other near rel- 



126 STORY OF RUTH, 

ative of Ruth, which would defeat his 
own plan, yet in addition to all this, con- 
science must have whispered to Ruth, 
as she tripped lightly across the fields 
to Bethlehem, that all was not exactly 
as it should have been; in spite of the 
integrity of Boaz and herself, and the 
kindness of Naomi. 

But be this as it may have been, she 
soon came to Naomi, who received her 
with great joy, and at once inquired 
what her success had been. Ruth gave 
her a true and full account of every 
thing that had happened. She did not 
keep back some things from her mother, 
lest she might not approve of them, as 
many daughters do. She told her all; 
that if any thing was wrong in her con- 
duct, Naomi might set it right. She 
brought to her mother, also, the present 
of barley Boaz had sent her. 

Nothing would have been more nat- 
ural with some daughters, had they been 
in the place of Ruth, than to reflect a 
little on their mother for sending them 
in the way she did. Naomi, too, might 



THE MOABITESS. 127 

have blamed Ruth for staying all night. 
But not a word of the kind, so far as 
we can learn from the Bible, ever pass- 
ed between them. In their anxiety 
about the future, each probably over- 
looked or forgot the past. 

Let me break from my narrative, a 
few moments, to dwell on a very popu- 
lar, but highly pernicious error. 

Perhaps nothing does more to de- 
grade and lower this blessed institution 
of the great Creator, — I mean mar- 
riage, — than the very common practice 
with the young, in some parts of our 
country, of giving and receiving visits 
in the evening, and continuing them 
late at night. A stranger from the 
moon, or from one of the planets, on 
finding that we visit and converse with 
our friends whom we love, especially 
about marriage, in the night, might very 
naturally ask if marriage was reckoned 
disgraceful among us. 

It would be well if the practice of 
making visits of this kind in the after- 
noon only, which is now beginning to 
13 



128 STORY OF RUTH, 

prevail in some places, were in fashion 
every where. It would do immense 
good. I have already expressed, indi- 
rectly, my strong dislike of making vis- 
its of the kind referred to, on Sabbath 
evening ; but I should rejoice if it was 
prohibited every evening. But wheth- 
er they are made in the afternoon, or at 
any other time, they should be discon- 
tinued so early that the parties may re- 
turn home and retire at their usual 
hour. 

It is far more pleasant to see our 
young friends maturing their acquaint- 
ance in the light of day, and perhaps 
walking abroad to enjoy the beauty and 
melody of nature, than to see them sit- 
ting in heated rooms, enlightened only 
by smoking lamps, or dim tapers ; ex- 
cluded from pure air, and the cheerful 
influence of the world around. Night 
is the time for repose. There are fewer 
objections, it is true, to sitting a few 
hours, in the long winter evenings, in a 
large social circle, than to sitting almost 
solitary. Still, whether the company 



THE MOABITESS. 129 

consist of two, or ten, or fifty persons, 
they ought to disperse at least by nine 
o'clock, at any season. 

I shall, of course, object to large par- 
ties assembled in the evening for dan- 
cing or other public amusements. As 
Christians, — as children of the day, — it 
seems to me far better to avoid every 
thing of the kind. 

But to resume our narrative. I have 
said that Naomi received her daughter 
with great joy. She did so : nor was 
this all. She advised Ruth to do noth- 
ing more herself; but to wait patiently 
the issue of events ; for Boaz would 
settle the whole matter before he rested 
that night. She knew very well the 
character of Boaz ; that when he had 
begun a matter, he was never perfectly 
easy till he finished it. Perhaps, too, 
she believed him to be so strongly at- 
tached to Ruth, that he would not be 
contented till the matter was settled, 
even if it were solely on his own ac- 
count. 

Persons who, having begun a piece 



130 STORY OF RUTH, 

of work, are not easy till it is finished, 
have sometimes been ridiculed as hav- 
ing the "lust of finishing." Now I am 
ready to admit that there may be an im- 
proper, and unreasonable, and even an 
unchristian anxiety of this kind ; and 
no doubt there sometimes is. But no 
person will ever be of much use in this 
world, nor, as we may presume, in any 
other, who has not a good share of this 
disposition to finish what he has once 
begun. If we have begun a wrong 
thing, or begun a right thing in a wrong 
manner, there is no reason for continue 
ing in the wrong. But he who begins, 
and does not exert himself, so far as 
health and circumstances permit, with a 
view to finish at the time originally 
contemplated, unless there is some 
strong reason for altering his original 
intention, commits a great error ; and 
such a person will seldom succeed well, 
either in the cause of God or the world. 
I am always charmed with this trait in 
in the character of Boaz ; and we see, 
in the case of Naomi, what confidence 



THE MOABITESS. 131 

it enabled her to put in him. We see, 

too, that her confidence was not mis* 
placed. 



CHAP. XV. 

How Boaz Proceeded. 

Boaz was evidently one of the elders 
of the city of Bethlehem, perhaps what 
we should call an alderman. Indeed, 
it is not quite certain that he was 
not the chief magistrate, or mayor. 
" What ! the mayor go out among his 
reapers," you will say, " and winnow 
barley with them, and eat and drink 
with them, both in the field and at the 
threshing floor ?" Yes, all of these. 
It was not in those days as it often 
is now. A man who sat as judge in the 
gate of a city was not supposed to low- 
er himself at all by being a plain man, 
or even by sleeping by a pile of grain. 
13* 



132 STORY OF RUTH 



These foolish notions had not, at that 
time, come into fashion. 

But whether Boaz was mayor, or on- 
ly an alderman of the city, he had 
power to call a court, even though it 
was not court day. This he did on the 
present occasion. He went to the town 
hall, over the city gate, where public 
business was usually transacted, and 
having collected ten of the city elders, 
proceeded to submit to them the cause. 

The great integrity of Boaz is shown 
in a most striking manner, by this very 
transaction. He might have said, " My 
money is as good as that of any other 
man;" and so have gone and redeemed 
the estate, and married Ruth, to whom 
he was now evidently attached, without 
saying one word about it to his kins- 
man or any body else, except Ruth and 
Naomi. But fond as he was of Ruth, and 
desirous as (for her sake) he might now 
have been of the purchase, he was 
above doing any thing that might be 
considered mean, or in the least degree 



THE MOABITESS. 133 

unfair or dishonorable. He was willing 
every thing he did should seethe light. 
He had no wish to conceal any thing. 
It was a maxim with him, and a good 
one, too, — that " Honesty is the best 
policy." And though a judge himself, 
he would not decide his own cause, at 
least without the evidence and concur- 
rence of others ; but chose to call a 
court,* summon to it his rival, the oth- 
er relative of Naomi and Ruth, and get 
an expression of their opinion. 

Ithappenedthatthisman came along 
just as the court was called ; so he was 
summoned in. Boaz then, in the pres- 
ence of the ten elders, thus addressed 
him: — " Naomi," said he, "that is 
come again out of the country of Moab, 
selleth a parcel of land that was our 

* The assembling together of these ten el- 
ders in such a way, and the peculiar character 
of the transactions that followed, hardly justi- 
fy our calling this meeting a regular court ; 
though it is called so by commentators. It was 
rather the calling together a number of wit- 
nesses to an important transaction or ceremony. 



134 STORY OF RUTH, 

brother Elimelech's ; and I thought to 
advertise thee, saying, Buy it before 
the inhabitants, and before the elders of 
my people. If thou wilt redeem it, re- 
deem it ; but if thou wilt not redeem it, 
then tell me, that I may know ; for 
there is none to redeem it beside thee, 
and I am after thee." 

The man, quite anxious to get hold 
of the property, and thinking, probably, 
that as Naomi was a widow and greatly 
impoverished, he should get it low, said 
he would redeem it. It is probable that 
it was a valuable piece of property, and 
was so situated that it would have ac- 
commodated him. 

Upon this, Boaz told him that there 
was a condition connected with the pur- 
chase of the land, which he would also 
be obliged to comply with ; which was, 
that in buying the land, he must take 
with it Ruth the Moabitess. 

Whether the man had a family al- 
ready, or whether it was that Ruth 
came from a strange country, and was 
poor, and lived by her hard labor and 



THE MOABITESS. 135 

the charity of others, or whatever 
might have been the cause, the name of 
Ruth was no sooner mentioned than he 
fell back from the bargain. Rather than 
buy the land with such an incumbrance, 
he chose not to buy it at all. 

This was precisely what Boaz want- 
ed. There was nothing now in his way 
to the possession both of Ruth and the 
property. The only thing that remain- 
ed now, was to finish and bind the bar- 
gain. 

A curious custom prevailed in Judea 
in those days. It was not usual to pass 
or change estates or property of any 
kind by writings ; but the bargain was 
made public and binding on the parties 
by some sign or ceremony. There was 
once in England a ceremony a little like 
it in regard to the delivery of property. 
When it was a house, the seller or de- 
liverer gave a key ; when a piece of 
land, a turf or a twig. Even in some 
of the States of this Union, a verbal 
contract, where the transfer of proper- 
ty is concerned, is not binding, unless 



136 STORY OF RUTH, 

something' is given by the purchaser to 
the seller, if it is nothing more than a 
penknife. In Judea, he that surrender- 
ed, sold, or gave up the property, " pluck- 
ed off his shoe," (or as some have it, 
his glove), and gave it to the purchaser 
or new owner. This ceremony was by 
no means an idle one ; for it had a very 
important meaning to it, which was, that 
whatever right he previously had to 
tread or go upon the land, he hereby 
transferred it to another person ; and 
this was u a testimony in Israel." This 
custom the kinsman of Boaz now cheer- 
fully complied with, before the ten el- 
ders. He drew off his shoe, and pre- 
sented it to Boaz. 

Had this kinsman been a brother of 
Mahlon, Ruth's former husband, and 
had he then refused to redeem the 
land, and marry her, according to law, 
Ruth would have been obliged, as we 
may see by the ninth verse of the twen- 
ty-fifth chapter of Deuteronomy, to have 
plucked off his shoe herself, and to have 
" spit in his face," or before his face. 



THE MOABITESS. 137 

But he was evidently a more distant re- 
lation than a brother ; and this preclud- 
ed any such necessity. 



CHAP. XVI. 

Boaz and Ruth Married, 

Marriage, one of the earliest institu- 
tions of the great Creator, is celebrated 
very differently in different ages and 
countries. With Catholic Christians, it 
is regarded as one of the sacred rites of 
the church. With Protestants, though 
not admitted to the rank of a church or- 
dinance, it is yet, for the most part, re- 
garded as a religious rite ; and is ac- 
companied, in its celebration, by prayer 
and other religious ceremonies. There 
are, however, some Protestant and oth- 
er countries in which marriage is re- 
garded as a mere bargain — a contract; — 
and though an important one, little more 



138 STORY OF RUTH, 

sacred than the buying of a house or a 
piece of land. 

There is one point of view in which 
all contracts, and indeed every thing 
we do, is sacred. An apostle has taught 
us that " whether we eat or drink, or 
whatsoever we do, we should do all to 
the glory of God." In fact, this is only 
embodying in a few words, what the 
Savior of mankind taught diligently, 
both by example and precept, for years 
together. There is nothing worth 
doing, however small and apparently 
unworthy of the great Creator's notice, 
but what may and should be done to 
his glory; that is, precisely as he would 
have it done. 

The school boy, at the day school, 
may think, when at his plays, or at his 
studies, that God takes no notice of him; 
or if he sees him, pays little regard to 
what he does, and cares still less how 
he does it; the pupils of the Sabbath 
school may think that God will never 
bring them into judgment for things 



THE MOABITESS. 139 

which they do on the Sabbath, in going* 
or returning- from church or school, or 
when no human eye sees them; but only 
while they are at the church, or in the 
class; the young* mechanic or farmer 
may think that when he is planing 
boards, or shingling houses, or making 
Coats, hats, or shoes, or ploughing or 
hoeing the soil, God pays no regard to 
it, nor is solicitous how or with what 
motive he does it ; and that it is only 
at church, or lecture, or funeral, or at 
morning and evening devotions, or in 
the closet, that he requires every thing 
to be done in a holy and heavenly man- 
ner ; but it is a most sad mistake to 
think so. There is not one of these 
things — nor indeed any thing that it is 
proper to do at all, but what we are re- 
quired to do exactly in such a manner 
that God will be pleased with it: in 
other words, so that it will best promote 
his glory in the universal good of his 
creatures. 

Marriage, it is true, is of a character 
somewhat different from ordinary occu- 
14 



140 STORY OF RUTH, 

pations ; because it is usually the begin- 
ning of a life of greater usefulness to 
both parties concerned, if properly con- 
sidered, and duly improved; but the 
beginning, on the contrary, of a course 
of strife, contention, and wo, if its im- 
portant intentions are disregarded, or if 
it is entered into thoughtlessly. 

Among the Jews, the parties des- 
tined to marriage were, as I have al- 
ready shown, usually betrothed or en- 
gaged very early, sometimes before the 
young lady was twelve years of age; 
but they were not allowed to marry be- 
fore, at least, twelve and a half years. 

The manner of demanding a daughter 
in marriage, was singular. This may 
be seen in the case of Eliezer, when he 
demanded Rebekah for Isaac. The 
husband gave a dowry to his wife as a 
kind of purchase money; and the amount 
which he should give was agreed on 
before the finishing of the contract. Ja- 
cob, who had no other dowry to offer 
for his two wives, the daughters of La- 



THE MOABITESS. 141 

ban, gave seven years of hard work for 
each of them. 

There were several ways of engaging 
to marry. One was performed by wri- 
ting; and nearly in the following words: 

u 0n such a day of such a month, in 
such a year, N., the son of N., has said 
to S., the daughter of H., Be thou my 
spouse according to the law of Moses 
and the Israelites, and I will give thee 
for thy portion the sum of two hundred 
zuzim, as is ordained by the law. And 
the said S. has consented to become his 
spouse on these conditions, which the 
said N. has promised to perform on the 
day of marriage. To this the said N. 
obliges himself; and for this he enga- 
ges all his goods, even as far as the 
cloak that he wears upon his shoulder. 
Moreover, he promises to perform all 
that is generally intended in contracts 
of marriage in favor of the Israelitish 
women. Witnesses, L., B., and R." 

Another method of promising to 

t marry, was made by a piece of silver 
given to the bride before witnesses; 



142 STORY OF RUTH, 

when the young man said to his mis- 
tress, " Receive this piece of silver as 
a pledge that you shall become my 
spouse." 

After the marriage was agreed upon, 
the young people had the liberty of see- 
ing each other, which was not usually 
allowed to them before. Between the 
time of the engagement and the mar- 
riage, considerable time often elapsed; 
sometimes because one or both the par- 
ties was under the proper age, and 
sometimes for different reasons. When 
the parties were agreed on the terms of 
marriage, and the time was come for 
completing it, they drew up the con- 
tract. 

We learn by the gospel according to 
John, that the bridegroom had a bride- 
man; called by our Savior the friend 
of the bridegroom. A number of young 
people kept company with the bride- 
groom during all the days of the wed- 
ding, to do him honor ; and a number 
of young women with the bride also, in 
a separate apartment. On the evening 



THE MOABITESS. 143 

before the wedding, the friends and 
companions of the bride sung the Epi- 
thalamium, or wedding song, at the 
door of the bride's room. The forty- 
fifth Psalm is an Epithalamium. 

The wedding ceremonies of the Jews 
were performed with very great propri- 
ety. The young gentlemen and ladies 
were not only in separate apartments, 
but ate at different tables. The young 
men, as in the case of Samson, some- 
times diverted themselves with propos- 
ing riddles, and the bridegroom ap- 
pointed a prize to those who could ex- 
plain them. 

The marriage ceremonies usually 
lasted, in the case of a young lady, 
seven days ; in the case of a widow 
three. Thus Laban said to Jacob, re- 
specting Leah, " Fulfil her week." The 
ceremonies of Samson's wedding, as we 
also know, continued seven whole days. 
These seven days of rejoicing were 
commonly spent in the house of the wo- 
man's father ; after which they conduct- 
ed the bride to her husband's home. 
14* 



144 STORY OF RUTH, 

It is said that the modern Jews, in 
some countries, throw handfuls of wheat 
on the newly married couple, at the 
same time wishing them prosperity ; 
and that in other countries they mix 
small pieces of money with the wheat, 
which the poorer people gather up. 

The procession which accompanied 
the bride to the house of her husband 
on these occasions, was usually one of 
great pomp ; though this was in propor- 
tion, no doubt, to the pecuniary circum- 
stances of the bridegroom. The hour 
selected was often the night. This will 
explain the fact that in the beautiful 
parable of our Savior, in the twenty- 
fifth chapter of Matthew, the «cene is 
laid in the night. The ten virgins were 
represented as asleep, and when the 
midnight cry, that the bridegroom was 
coming, aroused them, the five who had 
been wise and prepared their lamps 
with oil, went out to meet him ; while 
the other five, who from indolence had 
neglected to provide it, went forth to 
buy some; and while they were gone, 



THE MOA.BITESS. 145 

the procession passed by. Those who 
foresaw, and prepared themselves, went 
in with the procession, it seems, to the 
nuptial entertainment ; but the others, 
being tardy, were shut out. 

As Ruth was a widow, and Boaz an 
old man, if not a widower, as the cir- 
cumstances of their engagement were 
all very peculiar, and as the Bible gives 
us so little information on the subject, 
it is rather difficult to conjecture how 
far the customary ceremonies were 
complied with at their marriage. Of 
one thing we are certain, which is, that 
the contract of the marriage was fin- 
ished by Boaz himself, before the ten 
elders; and perhaps even before his kins- 
man left the hall. It appears that, by 
this time, other persons had come in 
besides the ten elders, for Boaz is said 
to have proclaimed his marriage con- 
tract not only before the elders, but be- 
fore all the people. The Bible language 
is as follows: 

" And Boaz said unto the elders, and 
unto all the people ; Ye are witnesses 



146 STORY GF RUTH, 

this day that I have bought all that was 
Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's 
and Mahlon's, of the hand of Naomi. 
Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the wife 
of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my 
wife, to raise up the name of the dead 
upon his inheritance, that the name of 
the dead be not cut off from among his 
brethren, and from the gate of his place: 
ye are witnesses this day." And all the 
people that were in the gate, and the 
elders said, "We are witnesses." 

By making this public declaration of 
his marriage and purchase, Boaz not 
only secured his title against all pre- 
tenders, but honored Ruth, by showing 
that, though she was a Moabitess, and 
poor, he was not ashamed of her ; and 
also left a public testimony — and one 
that would be likely to have influence — 
against clandestine marriages. 

At what time, during these remarka- 
ble transactions in the town hall, Ruth 
was brought in, does not appear ; but it 
seems she was present at the close of 
the proclamation; for after the elders 



THE MOABITESS. 14* 



and all the people who witnessed the 
transaction, came to wish them well, 
pray for their prosperity, and bless them, 
they spake so plainly of Ruth, as being 
present, that it is next to impossible, I 
think, to doubt the fact. It is by no 
means improbable that most of the mar- 
riage ceremonies customary on similar 
occasions, where one, at least, of the 
parties had been married before, were 
celebrated before they left the hall. 
What confirms me in this opinion, is, 
the mention made that Boaz, on leaving 
the hall, took her to his house ; by 
which the best commentators seem to 
understand that he took her thither 
with the usual " solemnities ;" among 
which was the procession already de- 
scribed, and the subsequent nuptial en- 
tertainment. 



148 STORY OF RUTH, 

CHAP. XVII. 

The Conclusion. 

We are now drawing- towards the 
close of this singular but instructive 
story. Ruth had now become the wife 
and mistress of the house and wealth of 
Boaz; not excepting the fields in which 
so lately she had gleaned wheat after 
his reapers. 

It might be curious to inquire in this 
place what became of Naomi. Did 
Ruth bring her into the splendid estab- 
lishment of which she had now become 
the virtuous and worthy mistress and 
occupant? Or did she remain where 
she was? How this was, we shall be 
able to form a better opinion by and by. 
There is no probability that in any 
event, Ruth or Boaz would let her suf- 
fer. 

How different now the condition of 
Orpah and Ruth ! But a short time 
before, Orpah, no doubt, was pitying 
poor Ruth, and regretting that she did 
not succeed in persuading her to accom- 



THE MOAEITESS. 149 

pany her back to the land of Moab, in 
preference to going into a strange coun- 
try to spend her days in taking care of 
her aged mother-in-law. For Orpah, 
too, loved Naomi, and was rather unwil- 
ling to part with her, yet she loved 
home, and country, and friends, and 
ease, and luxurious living, and idol 
worship still better ; and now, that 
she had broken away from her arms, 
and fairly returned, it is probable she 
rejoiced at her own condition, and would 
not, for the world, have exchanged with 
Ruth. 

But if they were so situated as to 
hear from each other, they must now 
know how materially altered were their 
circumstances. Ruth, by her virtue, 
and piety, and perseverance in well 
doing, had won the favor and confi- 
dence, not only of one good man, but, 
as it were, of a whole city. She was 
also in easy circumstances ; not only 
above want, but abundantly able to 
contribute to the wants of others. She 
was in a situation, even in a pecuniary 



150 STORY OF RUTH, 

point of view — to say nothing at all of 
her being in a land where the true God 
was worshiped — which even the ease- 
loving Orpah might well envy, were 
envy in any case allowable. 

There is great danger, however, in 
being thus " raised up out of the dust," 
as the Bible expresses it, to be set 
"with princes." People are exceed- 
ingly apt, in these cases, to become 
proud and overbearing. It is difficult 
to believe this of Ruth, however. She 
had received too many important lessons 
during many years of painful experi- 
ence, and great and important changes, 
not to have become fortified, in some 
good measure, against the temptations 
with which she was now surrounded. 
Besides, her piety was a still better 
shield than all the rest, against falling 
into an improper state of feeling. 

In process of time, the good Ruth 
became a mother. Her child was called 
Obed, which means a servant, Naomi 
was its nurse. It is said she took the 
child ; which, to some, may seem to 
imply that she took it to her own house. 



THE MOAEITESS. 151 

But I cannot well believe that the pious 
and excellent Ruth and Boaz would 
suffer their child to go away from its 
mother to be educated, even by as good 
and careful a hand as Naomi. The 
language of the Scripture is, " Naomi 
took the child, and laid it in her bosom, 
and became nurse unto it." I think it 
much the more probable supposition, 
that she became, from the time of the 
marriage of Boaz and Ruth, an inmate 
of their family. 

There is an opinion abroad — and 
indeed it is very common — that grand- 
parents and parents cannot get along 
well together, especially where there 
are grandchildren. It is said that they 
never act in concert and harmony; that, 
in the education of the little ones, what 
the parents approve, the grandparents 
are apt to disapprove ; and when the 
parents form plans, the grandparents 
are very apt to thwart them. 

No doubt this sometimes happens, 
especially when the grandparents are 
very old, and have already advanced 
15 



152 STORY OF RUTH, 

into their second childhood. But I 
think that, even in the latter case, the 
evils in question — and when they occur, 
they are certainly great ones — might, 
in nine cases in ten, be avoided, if the 
parents and grandparents would talk 
the matter over kindly and carefully. 
And unless the latter are greatly inca- 
pacitated by age, I think no wise pa- 
rents would hesitate, in forming plans 
for the government of their children 
and their domestics, if they have any, 
to consult the grandparents, and derive 
all the wisdom they can from their ac- 
cumulated experience. I am certain 
that if this course were taken, if the 
grandparents not only understood the 
general plan of the parents, but con- 
sented to it, there would seldom be any 
collision in carrying it out. It does 
seem to me very great folly for parents 
to neglect, as many do, to derive that 
advantage from the experience of their 
parents which they might, — that wis- 
dom which a long life has taught them, 



THE MOABITESS. 153 

and which could not but be highly ad- 
vantageous to them in the education of 
their rising family. 

One circumstance makes me hope, 
sometimes, that Boaz and Ruth took 
Naomi into their family ; which is, that 
nothing is said of their having any do- 
mestics ; and if they had none, Naomi's 
aid, in taking care of the child, while 
Ruth was doing the household work, 
would have been very valuable. I hope 
they had too much good sense to collect 
a host of servants round them ; though, 
from what we read of the wealthy and 
great of those days, it is to be feared 
that they did not dare to resist, so 
strongly, the current fashion. The si- 
lence of the Bible, on this point, proves 
nothing, I confess ; for the whole story is 
exceedingly brief; and after their mar- 
riage, the birth of Obed, and the men- 
tion of the nurse, it is silent. 

I forgot to mention one thing. Soon 
after the birth of Obed, some persons 
who were present, congratulated Nao- 
mi much more than they did Ruth or 



154 STORY OF RUTH, 

Boaz. Perhaps one reason for doing 
this was that they considered Naomi as 
the author, under God, of all the hap- 
piness that Boaz and Ruth now enjoyed 
' or were likely to enjoy, because she 
was the means of their formi ng the en- 
gagement. 

No doubt this compliment to Naomi 
was well intended and well received. 
But I do not think it any great credit to 
a person, that he has been the instru- 
ment of making a match, however for- 
tunate. For though Boaz and Ruth, 
without doubt, were very happy to- 
gether, yet for one such union made up 
for us by the interference of others 
which proves happy, ten, I believe, 
turn out unhappily. And when Naomi 
was laying her plans, and employing 
Ruth in carrying them out, there was 
involved in the measures she took, so 
far as human calculation can go, inde- 
pendent of Divine influence and direc- 
tion, a most amazing risk. 

That the result was successful, proves 
nothing in its favor. Who that has 



THE MOABITESS. 155 

read and admired the story of Joseph, 
has not shuddered at the abominable 
cruelty and wickedness of his brethren, 
in selling him as a slave, and then join- 
ing in a falsehood to conceal the crime 
from their father .? Yet this very con- 
duct of theirs led to some of the most 
wonderful events, in the whole history 
of the world. Not only did it prove the 
means of saving Joseph's brethren and 
friends from starvation, but also of fur- 
nishing to the whole Jewish nation, as 
well as to Egypt, some of the most 
striking displays of God's power and 
goodness which were ever recorded. 
Though Joseph's brethren meant it for 
evil, God meant it for good ; and what 
God intended it, so it proved. 

The same may be said in the present 
case. Whatever may have been the 
motives of Elimelech in going to the 
land of Moab, of Ruth in accompany- 
ing her mother to Judea, or of Naomi 
in getting her settled in life, or what- 
ever we may think of the means she 
took to accomplish her purposes, God 
15* 



156 STORY OF RUTH, 

meant it for good. Indeed, humanly- 
speaking, how could his plans for the 
final appearance of the Redeemer have 
been otherwise secured ? Christ was 
to descend, according to the flesh, from 
David the king. But David w^as the 
great-grandson of Boaz and Ruth ; and 
if Ruth had not removed from the land 
of Moab, and become the wife of Boaz, 
how could the prophecies have been 
accomplished, and the Redeemer made 
manifest ? 

If some reader should say, This con- 
founds all distinctions between right 
and wrong ; for, at this rate, whatever 
bad men do must be right ; — my answer 
is, Nobody considers it so ; and nobody 
ever did, in practice, regard it so. We 
cannot deny that God meant the sale of 
Joseph should work out good to the 
world generally ; and yet this did not 
make it right in those that sold him. 
This they themselves confessed. No 
sooner did they fall into trouble, than 
they thought of what they had done to 
Joseph, and their consciences reproached 



THE MOABITESS. 157 

them on account of it. "We are verily 
guilty (they all said) concerning our 
brother, in that we saw the anguish of 
his soul, when he besought us and we 
would not hear. Therefore is this dis- 
tress come upon us." They never 
doubted their own guilt ; and who that 
has lived since, ever doubted it ? 

So in the story of Ruth the Moabi- 
tess. Whatever was wrong in the con- 
duct of any individual concerned, was 
not the less so because events the most 
glorious in their results, seemed to grow 
out of it. " God's ways are not as 
our ways ; nor his thoughts as our 
thoughts." We see but a little way 
into his plans. Such, indeed, is our 
shortsightedness, that they not only 
appear mysterious, but sometimes diffi- 
cult, if not altogether contradictory. 
But the more we see of his ways, as 
they really are, the more we are satis- 
fied with them ; nay, the more glorious 
they appear. And there is a day at 
hand which will reveal whatever now 
appears mysterious, and loose whatever 



158 STORY OF RUTH. 

is now sealed. There is a day arnfmcf/ 
which shall show us things as they 
really are ; a day in which all secrets 
will be revealed ; and which shall fully 
justify the ways of God to man.' 5 



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